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ASIA'S LANDS AND PEOPLES

ASIA’S LANDS

and PEOPLES

A GEOGRAPHY OF ONE-THIRD THE
EARTH AND TWO-THIRDS ITS PEOPLE

GEORGE B. CRESSEY

Chairman, Department of Geology and Geography
Syracuse University

Author of China's Geographic Foundations;
The Basis of Soviet Strength

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WHIITLESEY HOUSE

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Preface

This volume is a preface to world citizen-
ship. These chapters may not be required
reading for everyone, but it seems essential
that many people understand many of the
ideas here presented. It is not necessary to
compare the relative importance of Asia
with other continents, but it is obvious that
one-third of the earth and two-thirds of its
inhabitants command attention.

Geography deals with all the items that
give personality to the face of the earth.
This volume thus considers both land and
people, the physical and the cultural land-
scapes. Too many of these pages are filled
with encyclopedic facts. In themselves
such facts are of little meaning except to
the specialist; taken together it is hoped
that they provide a basis for understanding
Asia’s geographic foundations. The reader
will need to discern between supporting
evidence and ideas, and to select the infor-
mation pertinent to his interests.

Vast changes are in progress throughout
Asia. The Soviet Union transformed its
economic life in the period between the
First and Second World Wars, and China
may well duplicate this development during
the second half of the twentieth century.
Japan’s future is uncertain, but her con-
spicuous achievements in the past give
promise of an important place. India faces
complex problems but will assuredly find
a solution.

All this has significance for the United
States in its role as the greatest Pacific
power. On the one hand is the possibility

of mutual good will, trade, and security;
on the other is political and economic chaos
both international and internal. Only an
informed America can act intelligently in
a global world.

Readers who wish to secure the high-
lights of the volume should examine Chap-
ter 1 on the Pacific, Chapter 2 on Asia as
a whole. Chapters S and 9 on China,
Chapters 11 and 14 on Japan, Chapters
15 and 18 on the Soviet Union, and Chap-
ters 30 and 83 on India. Where used as a
textbook in a brief course, it should prove
feasible to omit Chapters 3-5 or 0-8, 10-11
or 12-13, 15-18 or 19-21, and 29-30 or
31-32.

Acknowledgments

Asia is too large to be fully understood
by any one person. The author is keenly
aware of his shortcomings and of the
deficiencies in this volume. The completion
of the volume was made possible by two
grants-in-aid from the Carnegie Corpora-
tion. Assistance from Syracuse University
is also gratefully acknowledged. Almost
every reference under the Suggested Read-
ings has contributed helpful ideas. This
study has evolved out of nearly 1(K),000
miles of travel in Asia, spread over two
decades. The indebtedness to camel drivers,
inn keepers, local officials, missionary
hosts, and the author’s students is very
real.

Most of the American authorities on the
geography of Asia have cooperated by

Preface

• ••

reading portions of the manuscript. In-
numerable items have been added at their
suggestion. Several scholars not listed
offered to assist but were prevented by
other resfionsibilities.

The chapters on Japan have had the
benefit of help from Robert B. Hall of the
University of Michigan, Glenn Trewartha
of the University of Wisconsin, Shannon
McCune of The Ohio State University,
Miriam S. Farley of the Institute of Pacific
Relations, and Joseph A. Russell and
Douglas Haring of Syracuse University.

Chinese chapters have profited from the
criticism of James Thorp of the United
States Department of Agriculture, Joseph
E. Spencer of the University of California
at Los Angeles, and Chi-ynn Chang of the
National University of Chekiang.

For assistance on the Soviet Union the
author is indebted to E. C. Ropes of the
United States Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce, W. Elmer Ekblaw
.of Clark University, Harriet Moore of the
American Russian Institute, and William
Mandel and Andrew Grajdanzev of the
Institute of Pacific Relations.

The chapters on India have greatly
benefited by aid from the author’s brother
Paul F. Cressey of Wheaton College,
Edward Groth of the United States
Department of State, Wellington D. Jones
of the University of Chicago, Harry P.
Brown of Syracuse University, from the
Institute of Pacific Relations, and from
the British Library of Information.

Southeastern Asiatic chapters owe much
of their value to the cooperation of Robert
L. Pendleton, formerly Agricultural Ad-
viser to the Government of Thailand;
Lester Trueblood, formerly of Judson
College; Samuel Van Valkenburg of Clark
University; and Jan O. M. Broek of the
University of California.

The maps are the work of four graduate
students in the Department of Geology
and Geography at Syracuse University:
Row'land Illick, Walter Bailey, J. Lewis
Robinson, and William Black.

Maps

In order to convey a proper sense of
proportion, most of the maps are repro-
duced on uniform scales and a single
azimuthal equal distance projection; they
may be fitted together if desired. The
scales are 1 ; 75,000,000 for Asia as a whole,
and 1:80,000,000 for countries and realms.
A scale of 1 : 2,000,000 is used for the vicin-
ity of cities. If the second of these scales
unduly crowds Japan and leaves large
blank areas within the Soviet Union, it is
well to emphasize that just this is the case.

Lantern Slides

Lantern slides of any photographs or
drawings in the book may be secured from
the Syracuse University Book Store, Syra-
cuse 10, New York.

George B. Cressey.

StRAC’UBE Umverbitt
January ^ 1®44.

Contents

Paob

Preface vii

Chaptkk

1. The Pacific Babin 1

America Faces the Orient — 1, Trans-Pacific
Contacts — I, Hawaii— 5, Geostrategy in
the Pacific — 10.

%. Abia’b Continental Patterns .

The Geographic Personality— 12, The
Pattern of Eurasia — 14, Configuration and

Drainage— 15, Climate and Vegetation —

20, People — 26, Geostrategy in Asia — 27,

The Regional Framework — 33.

CHINA

3. The Chinese Landscape .... S5

Human Heritage — 35, History — 87, Politi-
cal Pattern — 40, Population Problems — 42,
Comm un ica tion.s — 46 .

4. China’s Physical Environment. 50

Geological Foundations — 50, River Pat-
terns — 52, Surface Configuration — 53,
Climate — 60, Natural Vegetation —65,
Soils— 71, Mineral Resources — 75, A Geo-
graphic Forecast, 88.

5. Farming in China 84

The Agricultural l^andscape — 84, Land Use
in China -87, Agricultural Regions — 90.

6. Regions OF North China. ... 97

Yellow Plain— 09, Shantung Peninsula —

104, Loessland — 105, Manchurian Plain —

110, Eastern Manchurian Uplands — 115,
Khingan Mountains — 117, Jehol Moun-
tains— 118.

7. Regions OF South China. . . . 119
Yangtse Plain — 120, The Seechwan Basin
—125, Central Mountain Belt— 129, South

Chapteb Pao*

Yangtze Hills — 130, Southeastern Coast—

134, Canton Hinterland — 135, Southwest-
ern Uplands — 139.

8. Regions OF Outer China. . . . 143
Mongolia — 144, Sinkiang — 151, Tibet —

156.

9. China in the New World . . . 162

Nationalism — 162, China's Economic Po-
tential — 163, Foreign Trade — 165, Geo-
strategy — 166.

JAPAN

10. Japan’s Natural Foundations. 170

Land Forms — 170, Climate — 175, Forests
and Soils — 180, Mineral Resources — 181.

11. The Human Response in Japan. 187
The People — 187, .\griculture — 191, Fbh-

ing — 197, Industry — 200, Communications
202, The Japane.se Landscape — 204.

12. Regions of Old Japan 208

Kwanto Plain — 208, Central Honshu— 214,
Western Honshu and the Inland Sea — 218,
Shikoku — 224, Kyushu — 225, Northern
Honshu — 227.

IS. Regions OF Outer Japan. . . , 229

Hokkaido — 229, Karafuto — 282, The Kur-
iles (Chishima) — 283, Korea (Chosen) —

234, Formosa (Taiwan) — 242, South Seas —

244.

14. Japan’s World Position . *. . . 246
Foreign Trade — 246, Expansion by Land
and Sea — 248, Relations with the United
States — 250, The Japanese Outlook on
Life— 252.

X Contents

CmMnm Pa««

SOVIET UNION

15. The Soviet Reaoi 258

Significance and Location — *5$, History —

25fi, Pionemng Economy — fi58. Political
Structure — People — 86*.

16. Environmental Facttors in the

Soviet Union 267

Geolc^iy — 867, Land Form Regions — 888,

Climate — 876, Natural Vegetation — 879,
Smls— 886.

17. Mineral Resources in the Sov-

iet Union 286

Power — 886, Metals — 898, Nonmetals —

896, Summary — 896.

18. Economic Developments in the

Soviet Union 297

Heavy Industry — 897, Otlicr Industry —

860, Transport — SOI, Agriculture — ^806.
Fmeign intercourse — ^809.

19. Regions OF Soviet Europe . . , 811

Ukrainia — ^Sll, White Russia — 880, Mctro-
pcditan Leningrad — 888, Kola-Karelian
Taiga— 885, Dvina*Pechora Taiga — 886,
Central Agricultural Region — 888, Metro-
politan Moscow — 889, Southern Agricul-
tural Region — 888, The Ural Mountains —

886 .

20. Regions OF Soviet Middle Asia. 389
Caucasia — 889, Caspian Desert — 848,
Pamirs and Associated Ranges — ^844, Oases

of Southern Turan — ^845, Aral-Balkhasb
Deserts — 860.

21. Regions of Soviet Siberia . . . 353
West Siberian Agricultural Region — ^868,
Altai-Sayan Mountains — 366, Ob Taiga —

869, Yenisei Taiga — 861, Arctic Fringe —

868, Baikalia— 866, Lena Taiga— 868,
Nortlieastem Mountains — 869, The Far

East— 870.

SOUTHWESTERN ASIA

22. The S6uthi41B8Tern Realm. . . 373

23. Turkey 381

Marmara Lowland*— 886, Black Sea Fringe
— ^886, Mediterranean Fringe — 887, Ana-

Caanm Pass

tolian Uplands — 888, Armenian Highlands
889.

24. Stria and Palestine 890

25. Arabia 897

26. Iraq 401

27. Iran 407

28. Afghanistan 412

INDIA

29. India’s Physical Foundations . 414
Geology and l«and Forms— 415, Climate—

480, Natural Vegetation — 486, Soils — 480,
Mineral Resources— 481.

80. India’s People and Their Ac-

tivities 485

People and Politics — 486, Agriculture —

448, Industry — 450, Communications —

464.

81. Regions of Northern India. . 457
Bengal and Orissa Lowland, 467, Ganges
Valley — 460, Brahmaputra Valley — 464,

Indus Valley — 465, Thar Desert — 468,
Western Frontier — 470, Himalayan High-
lands— 471, Assam Mountains — 476.

82. Regions OF Peninsular India. . 476
West Coast— 477, Black Soil Region— 479,
Northern Uplands — 488, FZastem Uplands
483, Southern Peninsula— 484, Ceylon —

487.

33. India’s Place in the World. . 489

Foreign Trade — 489, Political Relations —

491, Cultural Contributions — 498.

SOUTHEASTERN ASIA

34. The Southeastern Realm . . . 495

85. Burma 501

Irrawaddy Valley — 608, Burma Mountains
— 604, Shan ^teau — 606, Tenasserim
Coast— 606.

Contents xi

CHAram Paom

S6. Thailand 507

Central Thailand — 510, Northern Thai-
land — 512, Northeastern Thailand — 518,
Southern Thailand — 514.

37. Indo-China 515

38. Malata 521

CHAnmi Paob

39. Netherlands Indies 525

Java — 581, Outer Provinces — 586.

40. Philippine Islands 538

Luzon — 546, Yiseyan Islands — 548, Min-
danao — 548.

Suggested Readings 549

Index 573

ASIA’S LANDS AND PEOPLES

Chapter 1

THE PACIFIC BASIN

America Faces the. Orient

The Pacific is a whale of an occan» larger
by millions of square miles than all the
continents combined. From Singapore to
Panama and from Bering Strait to Antarc-
tica, lies 10,000 miles of almost empty
water. Here is room for 257 states the size
of Texas, or for 16 Chinas. Across this vast
expanse the United States faces Asia. The
largest of the oceans is an appropriate
preface to the largest of continents.

What was once a barrier is now a high-
way; clipper planes span the Pacific in less
than a week where clipper ships once took
more than three months. Over the Alaska
air route, one may reach Chungking from
New York by plane as quickly as California
by rail. The Orient has ceased to be distant,
and what Europe calls the Far East is now
in reality America’s Near West,

Can this Pacific basin become a com-
munity? On its opposite shores have de-
veloped the oldest and the newest cultures.
Diverse environments and racial contrasts
need not prevent the exchange of goods and
ideas. Today Japan learns from the Occi-
dent, and America may equally profit from
the mature philosophy of China. Asia is a
land of rich heritage and this ancient
continent is rapidly assuming a new sig-
nificance in the world of today.

The United States fortunately borders
two oceans and faces three continents.
Although physically bounded by the Atlan-
tic and the Pacific, in too much of its

thinking the country has remained an
island surrounded by the Atlantic. On
Oct. 12, 1492, Columbus discovered Amer-
ica; on Dec. 7, 1941, America discovered
Asia. These two dates may come to be of
comparable significance. Whatever the
history of the second half of the twentieth
century, we shall surely live in a world that
is round. Asia may not become more
important than Europe but its one-third
of the earth and its two-thirds of the people
will play a very large role in American
affairs.

The continental pattern of North Amer-
ica tends to turn it toward Europe. Land,
minerals, people, and history, all face east.
But, even though the dominant interests
have been Atlantic-ward, an increasing con-
cern with Pacific problems is inevitable.
American trade with China goes back a
century and a half. The shore line of the
United States along the Pacific is longer
than that of any other nation, and from
Seattle to Yokohama is but one hundred
miles farther than from New York to
Naples. Midway between Europe, Asia,
and South America, the United States is
indeed the “middle kingdom.”

Since the fifteenth century, the riches of
Cathay and the Indies have been a lode-
stone which has lured men around Africa or
across the Atlantic. Columbus carried a
letter to the Grand Khan of Cathay, John
Cabot sailed from England to find Zipango
or Japan, and Henry Hudson ran his boat

The Pucijic Basin

aground near Albany tr^dng to reach
Canton. The China trade came to have a
significant place in the early history of the
United States.

Toward the dose of the Revolutionary
War, an American sailor named John
Ledyard deserted from the British fleet
off New York City and returned to his
home in Connecticut. Some years before
he had been with Captain Cook in the
Pacific and, while in Canton, was impressed
by the exdtement with which the Chinese
noticed a few furs on the sailor’s bunks. So
eager were the Chinese that they paid $100
apiece for furs that had been bought from
the Indians along the Oregon coast for
sixpence worth of trinkets. Ledyard had a
vision as to the importance of the Pacific
Northwest in a possible fur trade with the
Orient but was unable to interest the mer-
chants of the Atlantic seaboard.

The early American states had emerged
from the war for indefiendence in serious
economic straits. Many of the wealthy had
fled, there were few industries and much
unemployment, and foreign trade was
negligible. In 1784, Robert Morris, the
nearly bankrupt financier of the Revolu-
tion, determined to send the first American
ship to Canton. He had heard Ledyard ’s
story and was impressed with the market in
China, but decided that it was safer to have
his Empress of China sail via the better
known African route with its established
way points instead of across the Pacific.
After a voyage of a year and a half, the
ship returned with a profit of il5 per cent.

With this auspicious start, American
trade with Asia was under way and suc-
cessive vessels were invariably successful.
It is not too much to say that the profits
from the early China trade were a critical
factor in enabling the United States to
establish economic independence; without
this new income from abroad it might well
have longer remained a rural settlement.

In 1790, the vessel Columhia sailed froi
Boston by way of Cape Horn bound fc
Oregon, Hawaii, and Canton, and retume
via the Cape of Gkx>d Hope, the firi
American ship to go around the work
Ginseng from the Hudson Valley for Chini
knives and trinkets from New England \
be traded along the Oregon coast for fur
or for sandalwood in Hawaii, tea secured i
Canton by trading ginseng, furs, an
sandalwood; and good British cash froi
the sale of the tea in England — these wei
the items in the early round-the-worl
trade. By 1811, the annual commerce <
the United States with China rose 1
$45,000,000 — no small item in those day

Purs provided a substantial part of th
trade. It was an interest in the furs of tl
Oregon country that sent Lewis and Clai
across the continent and prompted Jol
Jacob Astor to found Astoria at the moul
of the Columbia River. Without the lure
the China trade, the United States mig]
well have been content with less than tl
full span of the continent.

The war with England in 1812 near
swept American commerce from the Pacifi
but for sixty years thereafter, Yankee set
ing and, later, whaling ships were supren
in their field. Unlike the trading vess<
that preceded them, the whalers follows
no definite course but ranged from Siberii
waters to the Antarctic in quest of tl
sperm whale. By 1842 there were 6'
vessels in the business, the majority
them in the Pacific, and the total whalii
trade from 1804 to 1876 was valued
$332,000,000. Much of the wealth
present-day New England dates back
fortunes made in the Pacific during t
nineteenth century.

During these wanderings, hundreds
uncharted islands were discovered ai
landed on for the first time. Old logboo
are still 3 rielding records and maps. T
United States did not bother to take tii

America Faces the Orient

to these islands and they were later claimed From the Revolution to the Civil War,
by European powers. These whaling voy- the Pacific played a large role in American
ages now form the basis of revived Amer- commerce and in the overland expansion

Clipper ships, such as the Flying Cloud on the right, played a large role in America’s exploration of the Pacific.

ican claims to many Pacific islands once to the West Coast. With the discovery of
unimportant but today significant bases gold in California and the settlement of the
for transoceanic airplanes. It is fortunate Great Plains, the United States became
for the new ej)och of aviation that a century absorbed in internal construction, and the
ago Yankee captains ruled the Pacific. stars and stripes almost disappeared from

The era of the clipper ships began in the the high seas.

1840*s and, until the advent of steam, these By the time of the First World War,
sailing vessels broke all records for speed. America had ceased to be a pioneering land
The Flying Cloud (Captain Josiah Cressey) devoting its energies to homesteading, new
made two trips from New York to San railroads, and new factories. The United
Francisco in the record time of 89 days and States has grown up, and foreign commerce
continued to Canton in 94 days more, is again significant. Will the Pacific once
Scores of United States vessels traded along more be a key to America’s problems ? Just
the China coast, and it is not surprising as commerce with Asia saved the economic
that it was an American, Admiral Perry, life of the United States in earlier years, so
who opened Japan in 1853. it is possible that trade with China may be

4 The Pacific Basin

a major factor in the immediate future. An
adequate appreciation of Asia’s lands and
peoples provides an essential preface to an
understanding of America’s future.

Trans-Pacific Contacts

Trans-Pacific trade dates from the Manila
galleons which sailed from 1564 to 1815.
These Spanish vessels carried a fabulous
cargo from the Philippines to Acapulco in
Mexico, where it was shipped over the
China Road to Mexico City en route to
Europe. Westbound, these ships followed
the trade winds south of the Hawaiian
Islands; on the eastbound voyage they
took a great-circle course north of the
islands in order to be in the zone of the
westerlies. This brought them to the Cali-
fornia coast where Spain sought a port as a
way station and for protection against such
privateers as Sir Francis Drake; thus
California first gained significance from its
proximity to Asia.

Within the span of two and a half cen-
turies, more than a thousand galleons
moved out of the Orient. In addition to the
products of the Philippines such as cigars,
there were silk, porcelain, and embroidery
from China; spices from the East Indies;
drugs, ivory, camphor, and teak from
Malaya; and gems from India. In return
came Mexican silver, copper, and cacao.

This trade still continues but between
different ports. Most of it moves from San
Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver to Yoko-
hama, Osaka, Shanghai, Hongkong, Manila,
and Singapore. Tokyo is today closer to
San Francisco than is Salt Lake City; not
in miles or time but in the cost of shipping
freight. The ocean is a free highway without
a roadbed to keep up or mountains to climb
or taxes en route. Ocean trade has long
since knit together the Atlantic basin; it
will increasingly link the lands aroimd the
Pacific.

The good things of the earth are un-
equally distributed. Nature has seemed to
play favorites, and many of the essential
^aw materials such as tin, oil, and rubber,
or even productive soil, are highly localized.
No nation has everything, and even the
most fortunate countries are seriously de-
ficient in some essentials. Some peoples
have the skill or capital with which to pro-
duce complicated products; others can best
specialize on basic commodities. Interde-
pendence is the first lesson of geography.

Among the essential raw materials that
America lacks are the ferroalloys — chro-
mium, manganese, nickel, and tungsten;
the nonferrous metals — aluminum, anti-
mony, mercury, and tin; the nonmetallic
minerals — ^mica and quartz crystal; tropical
vegetable products including cocoanut oil,
Manila hemp, quinine, and rubber; and
also silk and wool. Political subsidies make
it possible for the United States to develop
low-grade domestic supplies, and synthetic
products can replace some of these, but the
increasing complexity of industry calls for
an ever wider variety of basic resources.
The United States and the Soviet Union
can more nearly enjoy the luxury of self-
sufficient autarchy than other countries,
but no land is adequately provided with all
its modern needs.

Until the Second World War, few Ameri-
cans realized their vital dependence upon
eastern Asia and the southwest Pacific as a
source of supply. Manila hemp, quinine,
rubber, silk, tin, tungsten, and cocoanut
products were almost exclusively from this
area; while antimony, mica, and wool were
largely procured there. Thus, 10 of the 16
essentials are best obtained in Asia, while
manganese, chromium, and many other less
vital products are also available. No other
part of the world is so essential to the nor-
mal industrial prosperity or national secur-
ity of the United States. Africa contributes

Hawaii

only chromium and manganese. To Europe
it looks for mercury and manganese. Canada
has nickel, while South America furnishes
quartz crystal, aluminum, and antimony,
plus some wool and tin. Under normal con-
ditions, two-fifths of the tonnage required
for American strategic imports comes across
the Pacific. No one need ask, “Why study
Asia?’'

American trade with Asia has changed
with the passage of time. In the early years
it was a quest for the special products of the
Orient, such as tea, silk, and porcelains, for
which the United States had little to offer
in return. In modern times there were
unique products like rubber, tin, tung oil,
antimony, and tungsten; with exports of
simple manufactured goods, kerosene, and
cotton. Asia is in the midst of her industrial
revolution, and the market will call for in-
creasing amounts of heavy machinery and
producers’ goods, as well as consumers’
goods in great variety. Between 1926 and
1930, 29 per cent of American imports came
from eastern Asia while in 1937 the figure
was 30 per cent. In the same periods Ameri-
can exports to this area were 11 and 17 per
cent. Malaya, Japan, the Philippines, and
China have been the leading source of im-
ports, in order, while Japan and the Philip-
pines have taken the chief exports.

The items that the United States shipped
to the Far East including India in 1937
were, in order of value, iron and steel prod-
ucts, petroleum, raw cotton, automobiles,
industrial machinery, copper, paper, to-
bacco, cotton goods, aircraft, and lumber.
These and the other products had a value
of $469,123,000. From the Far East the
commodities, which exceed 50 per cent of
our total imports, were abaci (Manila
hemp), agar-agar, bristles, camphor, cin-
chona (quinine), cocoanut oil and copra,
jute, kapok, lac, menthol, nux vomica, oil
seeds, palm oil, rubber, silk, soybeans,
tapioca, tea, tin, tung oil, and tungsten.

Trade is not the only link between the
East and West. Thousands of missionaries
have carried a large measure of American
good will to Japan, China, and India and
have brought back a more intelligent
understanding to their constituents in the
United States. For every returned Ameri-
can businessman or government official who
addresses a luncheon club, there are dozens
of missionaries on furlough who are inter-
preting Asia to the United States. The
mutual reservoir of good will that has
resulted is incalculable.

One of the major points of weakness in
American education is the lack of attention
to the Orient. Children study Shakespeare
but know nothing of Confucius; they
understand little enough of Europe but
even less of India. Wlien China discovered
the modern world, her educational program
was already overcrowded but she found a
place for new languages and new geog-
raphy. So too must the West.

Hawaii

Two thousand four hundred and four
miles west of San Francisco’s Golden Gate
lies Honolulu and “the loveliest fleet of
islands that lies anchored in any ocean”
(Mark Twain). Five jumps farther west by
Pan-American clipper are Hongkong and
Singapore; three flights southward bring
one to New Zealand. Due north is Dutch
Harbor off the tip of Alaska, and slightly
south of east lies Panama.

The Hawaiian Islands are an American
outpost and at the same time the crossroads
of the Pacific. For the United States, their
strategic significance is enormous. No other
island group in Polynesia is so important
in either population, products, or strategy.
From the island of Midway, near the
International Date Line, eastward to
the big island of Hawaii is 1,500 miles. The
eight major islands lie near longitude
160®W., with Oahu and the capital city of

The Pacific Basin

Honolulu near the center of group; to the desire for statehood results from Con-
west are a dozen small islands and reefs, gressional restrictions on sugar production
Three dates are significant: the discovery in 1934 which seemed to imply that the

The crater of Halemaumau occupies the center of the down-faulted caldera of Kilauea, the most active volcano

of the islands. {Courtesy U.S. Navy.)

by Captain Cook in 1778, the arrival of the islands were not an integral part of the
first New England missionaries in 1820, United States.

and annexation in 1898. The islands are Racial complexity dominates the Hawai-
now a territorial possession of the United ian Islands, and the resulting fusion has
States, with their own legislature and an been singularly successful. Second-genera-
appointed governor from Washington, tion Japanese are two inches taller than
With a population of 426,654 people (1940) their fathers and Hawaiian-bom Orientals
and an economic importance exceeding are forming a new race which insists on
that of several western states, many being called American. Since the days when
interests in the Territory of Hawaii are Yankee fur traders en route from Oregon to
agitating for statehood. But so long as China stopped for cargoes of sandalwood,
military strategy dominates and one-third immigration has brought new blood. Brit-
of the population is of Japanese descent, ish, Russian, and French political influence
Federal control may remain. Much of the have successively been dominant and, along

Hawaii

with Portuguese immigration, have intro-
duced a European racial strain. Sugar
plantations have called for a large labor
supply, furnished by Japanese, Chinese,
Korean, Puerto Rican, and Filipino mi-
grants. Only 21,000 pure Hawaiians remain.

The Hawaiian chain is a long series of
volcanic peaks. If the Pacific Ocean were
drained, these would stand out as some of
the highest mountains on earth, for Mauna
Kea and Mauna Loa on the island of
Hawaii rise 13,784 and 13,680 feet, respec-
tively, above sea level, which in turn is
18,000 feet above the near-by ocean floor.
Volcanic activity is progressively more
recent toward the east, with Kilauea as the
most spectacular crater under the American
flag. Even within sight of Honolulu are
three fresh cones, fortunately quiescent.

Several types of configuration charac-
terize the islands. Broad lava domes sur-
round the larger cones; deeply dissected and
notably steep ridges mark old fault blocks
or portions of caldera rims; elsewhere
there are rough lava flows. More gentle
areas include alluvial slopes, coastal plains,
and weathered areas of old ash or flows.
Since the islands are essentially mountain
summits, it is not surprising that even
approximately level land covers but a
tenth of the area. Out of a total area of
6,435 square miles, considerably less than
New Jersey, two-thirds is on the Island of
Hawaii.

Trade-wind climate prevails for 300 days
a year, with steady northeast winds and
rainfall which varies according to altitude.
These winds are so nearly saturated that
the cooling incident to a 3,000-foot rise
causes condensation; hence windward
slopes have a precipitation of several
hundred inches. In the lee of the mountains
rainfall diminishes to less than 20 inches.
Where the barrier is not too high, as on
Oahu, the maximum readings may be over
the crest on the southern slopes. Thus the

rainfall 15 miles from Honolulu averages
240 inches while at Waikiki Beach it is
but 20. Since the city extends inland
several miles, one may choose his residence
according to his climatic preference.

The Hawaiian Islands lie near the
northern margin of the trades, and several
times a year the equatorward movement of
subtropical high pressure brings southern
winds and rain to the previous lee slopes.
These short but recurrent spells produce
oppressive humidity; otherwise the islands
enjoy perpetual spring with temperatures in
the low seventies. The annual temperature
range is so low that the maximum and
'minimum readings of the year may come
within 24 hours.

The summit of Mt. Waialeale, 5,080 feet,
appears to have the heaviest rainfall in the
world, with a 20-year average, 1918 to 1938,
of 460.2 inches. This exceeds the 72-year
record of 451.6 inches at Cherrapunji in
India. Vertical zonation of climate, and
thus of land use, is conspicuous. From
2,000 to 4,000 feet, conditions resemble the
tierra templada in the highlands of Central
America. Snow falls only on the highest
peaks.

Two crops dominate agriculture: sugar
cane and pineapple. In early times taro was
the chief product, and both it and rice are
still important. Other products include
coffee, corn, bananas, cotton, and tropical
fruits. So much of the land is devoted to the
two export crops that the islands do not
feed themselves and import two-thirds of
their food. Even fresh vegetables are
shipped from California.

Sugar supplies much of the wealth.
Extensive research has made production
per acre the highest in the world, but the
latitude is marginal for cane and the crop
requires 18 to 24 months for growth in
contrast to 14 months in Java and Cuba.
Five to six crops are raised from each plant-
ing. Abundant moisture is essential, and if

The Pacific Basin

the rainfall is under 125 inches, irrigation
is necessary to ensure the high yield. The
cane for a ton of sugar requires 2,000 tons

of the world’s canned .supply. The annual
pack exceeds ten million cases. As with
sugar, research has notably improved yields

Sugar cane and pineapples, here shown to the left and right of an irrigation ditch, are the main crops of the

Hawaiian Islands. {Courtesy U.S. Navy.)

of water. Most plantations spend large sums
for irrigation canals and pumping. Irrigated
cane yields 8.6 tons of sugar per acre in
contrast to 5.5 tons on unirrigated fields.

Hawaiian sugar amounts to a million
tons a year, which is 3 per cent of world
output. The entire production goes to the
United States and supplies one-seventh of
that market. Since cane is heavy, the 38
mills are located near the fields. Planta-
tions range from 660 to 15,000 acres, and
from sea level to 2,000 feet.

Pineapples are Hawaii’s most distinctive
crop, and the islands furnish three-quarters

and quality. To check evaporation and
prevent weeds, pineapples are planted
through paper strips which give the fields a
ribboned appearance. Eighteen months are
required for the first crop and the plants
continue to bear for six to eight years.
Much of the acreage is on rolling land from
500 to 1,700 feet in elevation; irrigation is
unnecessary.

Cultivated land represents 8.5 per cent of
the total area. Out of 351,710 acres in 1930,
sugar cane accounted for 252,128 and
pineapples 78,750. Coffee covers 5,498
acres. Large areas are in pasture, notably at

Hawaii

the Parker Ranch on the island of Hawaii tion has given way to centrality, and few
with 500,000 acres and 30,000 head of communities can offer the wide array of
cattle. The total value of all agricultural visiting lecturers available in Honolulu.

The quiescent volcano of Diamond Head is Honolulu’s Gibraltar. Most of the city lies out of sight to the left,
but Waikiki Beach with its tourist hotels is in the central foreground. {Courtesy U.S. Navy.)

products is about $100,000,000, of which
$60,000,000 represents sugar, $34,000,000
pineapple, $4,500,000 animal products, and
$1,500,000 coffee, vegetables, and other
fruits. Since exports considerably exceed
imports, in both cases dominantly with the
mainland, and there are large military ex-
penditures, the islands have long enjoyed
prosperity.

American occupation has transformed
the Hawaiian landscape. Commercial plan-
tations have replaced subsistence farms. In
earlier times all settlements were small
coastal villages where fishing was impor-
tant# Population has now moved inland.
Grass huts have been replaced by frame
houses of Oregon pine. Tapa cloth and
grass skirts now appear only on days when
tourists arrive in port. Mid-oceanic isola-

Honolulu with its population of 180,986
(1940) is a beautiful American city in the
tropics. Ten miles to the west lies the great
naval base at Pearl Harbor, with 12 square
miles of deepwater anchorage, separated
from the open sea by a narrow passage.

The Hawaiian Islands are the first of a
series of American steppingstones, several
of which are used in connection with the
million miles of Pacific aviation flown
annually by Pan-American Airways. Seven
hundred and twenty miles southwest of
Honolulu is Palmyra, 960 miles south is
Johnston Island. Canton and Enderberry
are other American islands in Polynesia,
held jointly with Great Britain. Farther
south is American Samoa with the splendid
harbor of Pago Pago. Westward are Mid-
way, Wake, and the important cable sta-

The Padjic Basin

tion at Guam, key to Melanesia but
surrounded by the old Japanese mandated
islands.

GeostrcUegy in the Pacific

Position is important equally in peace
and in war, for it involves not only physical
location but accessibility and the geo-
graphic qualities that make some places
more desirable than others. These are
active factors and as such bring conse-
quences, planned or otherwise. Strategy is
the application of policy and calls for a
recognition of the significance of place and
all that goes with it. The practical aspects
of political geography are sometimes known
as geopolitics but, since they cover much
more than politics and the term is often
misunderstood, it seems better to use the
word geostrategy for the dynamic aspects
of applied international geography.

America is the major Pacific power. No
other nation around its shores has so much
frontage, or so many resources, or such a
favorable location. China is more populous
and Japan has been more aggressive, but no
power holds the same assets as the United
States. Whether it uses these assets is
another matter. These opportunities bring
corresponding responsibilities. The Pacific
is too vast ever to become a national lake,
and any attempt to control all its waters
would be impossible. The United States
should map out an area within which it
desires to have primary military control
and recognize that economic leadership
elsewhere must rest on good will and
statesmanship.

Dutch Harbor, Pearl Harbor, and
Panama are the Pacific fortresses for the
defense of continental United States.
Beyond them are the outposts of Kiska,
Midway, Samoa, and other small islands.
These form a natural American sphere.
To go farther is to lengthen supply lines and
enter areas where there are thousands of

islands. To control Guam it is necessary
to have all of the Marshall, Caroline, and
Mariana groups. To enter the South Pacific
there is no stopping till one reaches Aus-
tralia and Singapore. Thus Japan took
Korea to protect her islands, then Man-
churia to protect Korea, later on Inner
Mongolia to protect Manchuria, and she
wants Eastern Siberia to protect the whole.
One should beware that the appetite does
not grow with the eating and exceed the
capacity of the digestion.

The only possible trans-Pacific enemies
of the United States for a century to come
are the Soviet Union, China, and Japan.
Australia and Southeastern Asia are too
weak. The United States might have dis-
agreements with a free Philippines, but the
latter could scarcely attack. Whatever the
future possessions of European powers in
the Pacific, the United States should easily
enjoy superior advantages. China will be
busy with internal development for decades
and has never had conspicuous maritime
interests; if imperialistic her interests will
turn southward. Climate and topography
make it unlikely that the Soviet Union can
ever be a major Pacific power, and any war
would be via Alaska rather than the broad
Pacific. Only Japan promises to be a future
threat, and if her outer island territories are
removed, she will be without offensive
striking power. Hence the Dutch Harbor-
Pearl Harbor defense line appears reason-
ably adequate.

It is clear that, when diplomacy fails
and war follows, a nation must be prepared
to fight whenever operations are called for,
but this does not mean that it should make
the whole world its castle.

So long as the islands of Micronesia were
in the hands of European nations, even
though powerful at home, they formed no
serious threat to the United States as its
own lines of communication were far
shorter. Only when these islands fell into

Geostrategy in the Pacific

the contrx>l of a strong Asiatic naval power
did they become a danger. Any arrange-
ment that leaves them in the hands of
Japan will invite future trouble. It is not
necessary that the United States own them;
they would be innocuous as an international
or a Philippine mandate.

The primary military sphere of the
United States should be limited by the
180th meridian and the equator; outside
the northeastern Pacific, operations lose
the advantages of proximity to the main-
land. The defense of Guam is not a matter
of investing hundreds of millions of dollars,
it is a problem of all the surrounding
islands, of great-circle routes, and of rela-
tive distances. Commerce and international
cooperation will probably flourish better
under a Good Neighbor Policy than with
nineteenth century imperialism. A program
of security that is too aggressive will imperil
the trade that it seeks to develop.

The western Pacific presents problems
that will be referred to in subsequent
chapters. It would appear sound geo-
strategy that a defeated Japan should lose
outlying territories which gave her offensive
military power. It appears equally fair that
major continental powers, such as China

and the Soviet Union, should if possible be
given unrestricted access to the high seas.
This would suggest the retrocession of
Formosa and the Liuchiu or Ryukyu Islands
to China, and the transfer of Sakhalin and
the Kuriles or Chishima to the U.S.S.R.

The Pacific is too big to study on a flat
map; only a globe is adequately honest.
Mercator maps do not show that the great-
circle course from Seattle to Tokyo cuts
north of the Aleutian Islands, or that the
shortest route from Panama to Manila
passes near Los Angeles and north of
Honolulu. Nor does any merely political
map emphasize the intangible aspects of
friendship. American missionary and relief
aid to China and the cancellation of the
Boxer indemnity are worth more than a
fleet of ships.

Geographic ignorance is immeasurably
expensive. An understanding of geostrategy
is not in itself a solution for the problems of
the Pacific, but without it no sure peace
can prevail. Here is a far bigger space than
Americans have ever thought in terms of
before. Asia and the Pacific are a new
world, where stability has not yet been
achieved. The Pacific is an Asiatic as well
as a North American ocean.

Chapter %

ASIA’S CONTINENTAL PATTERNS

The Geographic Personality

One-third of the earth is Asia and here
live nearly two-thirds of all mankind;
eighteen million square miles and a billion
and a third people. Land and man are the
essential elements in any geographical
study. Empty land may be of scientific
interest, and the anthropologist studies
human characteristics objectively, but only
as the two are put together does the face
of the earth take on a meaningful
personality.

Asia is not just the biggest or most con-
tinental or highest or wettest or most
diverse of continents. It is interesting
because it is the most human. It happens
to be the home of the oldest fossil man,
Sinanthropus pekinensis^ but the earliest
recorded history is in Egypt and not in
Asia. More people live here than elsewhere
but they do not belong to the most impor-
tant nations. These superlatives are not
entitled to more than passing notice. The
peoples of Asia and the land from which
they have sprung challenge consideration
because of their unique characteristics. The
Chinese have a ^ mature and practical
civilization, the people of India are philo-
sophical, the Russians have created a new
and dynamic society, and Japan has shown
surprising virility.

Few common denominators unite Asia
except location. High mountains and
climatic barriers separate the major na-
tions. Trade and international contacts
have been outward and by sea rather than
inward by land. In place of this centrifugal
outlook, new highways and the air age may

develop centripetal interests, with resulting
continental coherence.

If it were possible to fly high enough to
see all of the continent at one time, the
people and the cultivated fields would be
invisible. One might study the pattern of
mountain and desert but the human half
of geography would disappear. On the
other hand we cannot know each, of Asia’s
billion people and watch how they utilize
their immediate bit of earth, and even if we
did we would not understand the inter-
related whole. An appreciation of Asiatic
geography requires a combination of air-
plane reconnaissance and integration, and
the analysis of individual landscapes. Those
who wish to understand the regions of Asia
must read both the oversimplified generali-
zations of this volume and some of the
case studies listed under the Suggested
Readings. Since so few critical detailed
studies are available, many generalizations
lack adequate support.

Geography is concerned with all those
features which give character and per-
sonality to the face of the earth. Since they
have areal distribution, they are mapable.
For the most part they concern the observe
able objects of the landscape, but non-
material features are of geographic interest
as well.

Much of Asia is unattractive for human
settlement. Despite the pressure of popula-
tion, less than ten per cent is under cultiva-
tion. Too much of the continent is too cold,
too dry, too mountainous, too infertile, or
too remote to be attractive to man. Vast
areas face the frozen Arctic, millions of

square miles are beyond the reach of much

Too much of Asia is too cold or too hot, too dry or too wet, too mountainous or too infertile, or too inaccessi-
ble to be of much use as a home for man. Compare this map with those of Population Distribution and Accessi-
bility, pages 27 and 30.

tion density of the rest of the world, with free from frost and are too cold for nor-
an average of 72 people per square mile as mal agriculture, or have too little rain
compared with 26. For the globe as a whole, (Koeppen BS symbol), or are too steep and
the average is exactly 40. mountainous for cultivation. Hilly land is

Asians Continental Patterns

stippled and, if not otherwise eliminated, is
available for crops. Only the unshaded
lands are really desirable, and parts of
these have precariously short or dry sum-
mers. Irrigated oases and terraced moun-
tain slopes add small areas. Just because
Asia is large does not mean that it is all
attractive. Too little is good.

Two unruled areas stand out, a triangu-
lar section in the Soviet Union which
extends eastward to Lake Baikal, and a
large crescent in the southeast from India
to northern China. The first marks the
zone of Atlantic climate and is cool; while
the second is the * Indo-Pacific monsoon
zone, with tropical influences. Tibet is con-
spicuously eliminated on the basis of
topography, temperature, and drought.
Much of eastern Siberia is both cold and
mountainous. Large parts of China and
India are hilly, and thus of limited usability.
Japan and Java are largely mountainous,
yet support a large agricultural population.

Asia may also be divided into three great
climatic realms : Monsoon Asia in the south
and east, Desert Asia in the center and
west including dry highlands, and Boreal
Asia in the north. The monsoon realm with
its summer rain and winter drought ex-
tends from the valley of the Indus to the
central Amur River and southern Kam-
chatka, and inland to the edge of Tibet and
Mongolia. Desert Asia reaches almost to
the fiftieth parallel near the headwaters of
Arctic drainage; to the west it swings
around the north of the Caspian Sea. Boreal
Asia is the largest of the three; its western
limits are formed by the wedge of maritime
influence that projects eastward from
Peninsular Europe as far as Moscow;
within it are the tundra and taiga with
some grassland.

The Pattern of Eurasia

What and where is Asia? Is the huge
land mass of Eurasia one continent or two ?

The common practice is to slice the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics in two parts
along an arbitrary line, different on every
map, and assign one part to Europe and
another to Asia.

This so-called continental boundary in
the general vicinity of the Ural Mountains
follows no significant division of topog-
raphy, drainage, climate, soils, land use,
culture, or history. It accords with neither
the crest of the Urals nor any political
subdivisions. This conventional line is an
arbitrary fiction of early map makers,
without geographic validity or the sanction
of those whose country it divides. Even the
crest of the Urals supplies no more of a con-
tinental boundary than the Appalachians.

But if the Soviet Union cannot be
divided into separate continents, is it to be
classed as European or Asiatic? The old
and largely untrue saying of “scratch a
Russian and find a Tatar” reflects certain
Mongoloid relations, but the Russians
quite properly resent any exclusion from
European classification to which they are
clearly related in culture.

The terms Europe and Asia appear to
have originated in the Aegean Sea, where
the terms sunrise, Asu, and sunset, Ereb,
came to be applied to Turkey and Asia, and
Greece and Europe. Hence the division into
the Orient and the Occident.

Europeans have looked eastward to Asia,
hence the usage of Near East and Far East.
These directional terms have no significance
to the people of Asia itself, or to Americans.
Accordingly they are seldom used in this
volume.

The single mass of Eurasia has at least
six major realms, not two. These divisions
recognize great cultural contrasts as well
as physical geography. Several of these
subcontinents are more populous and more
important economically or historically than
any of the southern continents. One of
these areas is the Soviet Union, as large as

Configuration and Drainage

all of North America; another is China and
Japan; Southeastern Asia is a third; India,
officially known as a subcontinent, is
fourth; and the Southwest is fifth. The
Atlantic, Baltic, and Mediterranean Penin-
sulas in the west commonly known as
Europe form the sixth major area.

This book deals with the first five of
these realms. It is impossible to describe

or cultural areas; they have distinct physi-
cal characteristics as well. Thus the Soviet
realm has almost nothing in common with
the Indian realm or with the Chinese-
Japanese realm or with Southwestern Asia,
each of which it borders. When one enters
the Soviet Union, he is in a different world.

The chief nations of Asia with their areas
and populations are as follows:

Country

Afghanistan

British Malaya

Burma

China

French Indo-China

India

Iran

Iraq

Japan

Netherlands Indies

Palestine

Philippine Islands

Saudi Arabia

Soviet Union

Syria

Thailand

Turkey

All Asia^

World totaP

1 League of Nations Statistical Yearbook, 1&40-1941.

Asia without including Siberia and Soviet
Middle Asia, and these lands cannot be
understood without reference to the balance
of the U.S.S.R. But it is not imperative to
consider Poland or England in describing
the geography of the Soviet lands. The
division lies along the western Soviet
frontier rather than the Urals. The penin-
sular countries of Western Europe have a
common culture and history and deserve
separate consideration. Asia has become
fixed in our vocabulary, but it is not a unit
area to be described in a few easy
generalizations.

These five realms are not merely political

Area, in
square miles

Population

^ Year

250,000

12,000,000

50,880

5,174,000

1937-1938

261,610

16,000,000

1941

4,380,535

473,992,359

1938-1940

285,800

23,030,000

1936

1,575,187

388,800,000

1941

628,000

15,000,000

1935

116,600

3,560,456

1935

260,662

99,456,262

1935

753,267

70,476,000

1940

27,009

1,568,664

1942

115,600

16,000,313

1940

4,500,000

8,176,010

170,467,186

1939

57,900

3,630,000

1935

200,198

’ 14,464,489

1937

294,416

17,869,901

1940

18,523,552

1,326,000,000

1939

51,230,213

2,169,873,000

1939

Configuration and Drainage

Asia is unique among the continents in its
mountain core and radiating ranges. No-
where between the Aegean and the China
Seas is it possible to travel from southern to
northern Asia without crossing mountains.
The few passes are a mile or more in height
except toward either end. A complex of
ranges isolates the various coastal lowlands
and breaks up the continent into separate
units.

The topography of Asia is determined by
its geologic structure and history. Within
the continent are several major structural

AMs Continental Patterns

units. In the south are the peninsulas of
Arabia and India, underlain by an ancient
and massive complex of highly folded Pre-
Cambrian rocks. These stable positive
areas are part of the ancient continent of
Gondwana land; they are now locally
veneered with young sediments. Northern
Eurasia has two other stable areas : one the
Fenno-Scandian Shield around the Baltic
Sea and the other a similar block north and
east of Lake Baikal known as Angara land
but better divided into the Anabar and
Aldan shields. Other such stable areas exist
in China and elsewhere; all are composed
of very ancient and metamorphosed rocks.

Between these resistant blocks are a
succession of east-west folded ranges.
During much of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic
eras, this was the site of a great sea known
as Tethys, longer and wider than the
Mediterranean. Sediments accumulated in
this geosyncline, and mountain building
occurred at the close of the Mesozoic and
especially in the Cenozoic. Pressures came
from the north. The Himalaya form one of
these ranges and are among the youngest
mountains on earth. Similar mountains
extend from Turkey to Japan.

Before considering the various mountain
ranges, it is appropriate to define a few
terms. The classification of land forms
needs clarification. The words hill and
plateau are used with no common agree-
ment as to their slope or relief. These last
two elements are the essentials in surface
configuration, e.g.^ the angular degree of
slope and the vertical difference between
the highest and lowest points within a
given area.

Plains and plateaus are essentially flat,
or have only gently rolling forms with
slopes up to 5®. Depositional plains are com-
monly flatter than erosional plains. The
difference between a plain and a plateau
is that whereas the former has little or no
relief, say tens or hundreds of feet at the

most, plateaus are plains that are inter-
sected by deep valleys so that the area as
a whole has noticeable relief. This may
amount to hundreds or thousands of feet,
but the essential feature is undissected flat
land cut by steep-sided young valleys.
Plains are near their base level, while
plateaus are not; either may be at low or
high elevations. Many areas called plateaus
by geologists were once that, but have now
been so dissected that only hills remain.

Hills and mountains are slope lands,
whether gentle, say four to ten degrees,
or steep, say over ten degrees. The
distinction between hills and mountains is
not in the degree of slope but in the amount
of local relief. Thus hills are measured in
hundreds of feet while mountains are
measured in thousands. These figures do
not refer to elevation above sea level, which
does not enter into the definition, but to the
difference between summits and valley
bottoms. Some hills, such as badlands, have
steep slopes while some mountains have
gentle slopes.

Land forms are one thing; elevation
above sea level is another. Most physical
maps show only elevation, from which
incorrect deductions are often drawn as
to the configuration. Thus the valley of the
Si River west of Canton is near sea level
and commonly shown in green while
interior Tibet is notably high and is con-
ventionally mapped in dark brown or red.
As a matter of fact the former is hilly while
parts of the latter are a featureless plain.
What we need are maps that show both
elevation and configuration, and of the
two the latter is the more important.

Three types of elevation deserve stand-
ard names; lowlands, from sea level to

2.000 or 3,000 feet, uplands to 6,000 or

8.000 feet, and highlands.

In this volume the regional arrangement
of land forms is known as the surface con-
figuration. This is described in terms of

Configuration and Drainage

lowland, upland, and highland, combined ing to a knot and diverging to enclose, a
with the word plain, plateau, hill, and high plateau or intermontane basin. The

Asia is a mountain-hearted continent. Great ranges spread out from both ends of the Tibetan Highlands
and block easy access from north to south, and east to west. Surprisingly small areas of level land are available
in the regions that are climatically usable.

mountain. The scale of some maps does not following description is in terms of topo-
permit this full classification. graphic continuity rather than structural

From Turkey eastward to China there unity, but for the most part the mountains
is a double series of mountain ranges, are geologically young and hence rugged,
draped as festoon loops, alternately merg- In Turkey the series includes the Pontus

AMs Continental Patterns

Mountains along the Black Sea and the
Taurus Mountains bordering the Mediter-
ranean. Between them is the upland
plateau of Anatolia. Eastward these ranges
merge into the Armenian knot, with almost
no plateau between the bordering Kara-
bagh and Kurdistan Mountains. Parallel to
this system on the north is the alpine range
of the Caucasus which extends westward
into Crimea and continues to the east of
the Caspian in the low Kopet Dag. Iran is
a second plateau basin, like Anatolia. Its
eastern part is set off as the Seistan basin.
To the north are the Elburz, Khoressan,
and Hindu Kush mountains, while on the
west and south are the Zagros, Ears, and
Makran mountains.

This twin series again unites to form a
knot in the Pamirs. This is the “roof of the
world,” a highland mostly over 12,000 feet,
with mountains, deep canyons, and rolling
plateaus. Mountain chains radiate from
this center like arms of an octopus. To the
west are the Hindu Kush; southward are
the Sulaiman and their extension in the
Kirthar range which continues westward
into the Makran. Northwest of the Pamirs
are the Alai Mountains; to the northeast
are the Tien Shan. To the east are •four
major ranges, among the greatest in Asia.
These are The Himalaya, the Karakorum,
and the Altyn Tagh — Kuen Lun. These
surround the great highland of Tibet with
its plains and lesser ranges. In eastern
Tibet there is a third knot, formed where
the Kuen Lun and The Himalaya approach
each other.

East of Tibet the arrangement is less
clear. The Himalaya apparently turn into
southeastern Asia, and may be followed
topographically into the East Indian arc.
Any such continuation should not be
assumed to represent geologic similarity
or structural upity. Other low mountains
extend across southern China and turn
northeast along the coast. The Kuen Lun

continue into China as the Tsingling Moun-
tains, and account for the major geographic
division of China into the North and the
South. The Szechwan Basin and Yunnan
Plateau may be thought of as an enclosed
area somewhat comparable to Iran and
Anatolia. The easternmost Altyn Tagh is
known as the Nan Shan; other mountains
continue along the border of Mongolia east
and north as far as the Khingan Range.

Northeastern Asia has an independent
sequence. The Altai is a narrow range that
projects into Mongolia from Siberia where
it joins the Sayan Mountains on the east.
The Yablonovi Mountains extend north-
east from Lake Baikal and merge with the
Stanovoi Mountains, incorrectly located on
many maps. In the extreme northeast are
the Verkhoyansk, Cherski, and Kam-
chatka Mountains.

No satisfactory genetic organization is
available. The masterly work of Suess was
written in 1901 and new data are now
available. Argand’s analysis of 1922 is in
terms of drifting continents which are
unacceptable to most English-speaking
geologists. Continental generalizations had
best wait until more field evidence is
available.

In addition to these mountain systems,
several other topographic units need to be
added. The plateaus of Anatolia, Iran, and
Tibet have already been listed. Other pla-
teau or related areas are Arabia, the Deccan
of peninsular India, Mongolia, and the Cen-
tral Siberian Platform. Two of these pla-
teaus, the Arabian and the Indian, are
bounded on the west by bold escarp-
ments. A comparable situation exists along
the eastern and southeastern margins of
Mongolia.

In the middle of Asia are three lowlands :
the Tarim and Dzungarian basins of west-
ern China and the Turan Basin east of the
Caspian Sea.

Configuration and Drainage

The principal plains are found in the as the Arabian and Syrian deserts, the Kara
valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Ganges Kum and Kizil Kum in Soviet Middle Asia,
and Indus, Yangtze and Yellow, Liao and the Takla-makan Desert in western China,

Sungari, OB, Volga, Dnieper, and Dvina, The Gobi in Mongolia, and the Thar Desert
and Pechora rivers. in northwest India.

Desert climate prevails over many of the No single river predominates, as in North
interior plains; thus there are such divisions or South America; instead a series of great

«0

Asians Continental Patterns

rivers radiate from the interior. Five million
square miles are without drainage to the
ocean. Scant rainfall and excessive evapo-
ration do not supply enough water to fill
the interior basins to overflowing. During
an earlier period of greater humidity, the
Aral Sea expanded and overflowed to the
enlarged Caspian, which in turn drained
into the Black Sea.

Along the Arctic Coast are three great
rivers: the Ob, Yenisei, and Lena each
among the eleven longest in the world ; and
five smaller rivers, the Dvina, Pechora,
Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma. Pacific drain-
age accounts for four major rivers, again
among the eleven longest : the Amur, Hwang
or Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong. Smaller
streams are the Liao, Hai, Hwai, Min, Si,
Red, and Menam rivers. The Indian Ocean
receives three rivers large in volume but of
lesser length, the Brahmaputra, Ganges,
and Indus; plus smaller streams such as the
Salween, Sitang, Irrawaddy, Mahanadi,
Tapti, Narbada, Tigris, and Euphrates. The
Black Sea receives the Dniester, Dnieper
and Don rivers. Five important rivers drain
into inland seas, the Volga and the Ural to
the Caspian, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya
to the Aral Sea, and the Hi to Lake Balkhash.

Climate and Vegetation

The continentality of Asia is best re-
vealed in its climate. The maritime coastal
areas present striking contrasts to the land-
dominated interior where the seasons are
accentuated. The mountain pattern adds to
these contrasts. Interior Asia is nearly 2,000
miles from any ocean. Other continents
extend north and south and are more ex-
posed to the ‘‘prevailing westerlies” or to
the easterly trade winds. Eurasia stretches
east and west for more than half way around
the earth. It has the lowest recorded tem-
peratures for any inhabited place, and some
of the highest. Rainfall also shows very
great extremes. Winters in the interior are

much colder than at corresponding latitudes
in North America.

Almost every known climate occurs in
Asia, from the equatorial rainy type of
Malaya to the ice field climate of Nova
Zemlya. Each of the principal Koeppen
symbols is included.

The simplest explanation of Asiatic cli-
mate is that in summer the overheated
interior warms the overlying air, causes it
to expand, rise, and overflow aloft, and thus
creates low pressure which draws in air
from the surrounding relatively cooler
oceans. In winter excessive radiation over
the continent chills the air and develops a
stationary high pressure area from which
winds blow outward to the regions of low
pressure over the oceans where there is still
a reservoir of warmth from the preceding
summer.

These to-and-fro winds are alternately
moist in summer and dry in winter, and
account for the seasonal distribution of
rainfall. Where mountains rise in the path
of incoming winds, exceptionally heavy pre-
cipitation results; in their lee are deserts.
This is the seasonal monsoon, best devel-
oped in India, less conspicuous in China,
and only present elsewhere as a tendency.
A similar monsoon circulation develops with
the other continents but is much more
feeble on account of their smaller size.

Unfortunately, this simple explanation is
not entirely correct, and the climatic regime
of Asia becomes more and more complex as
examined in detail. Thus The Himalaya
are so high that they block winds from
central Asia and the Indian winter monsoon
is almost entirely a separate phenomenon.
It will also be pointed out later that the
sudden arrival of the summer monsoon over
India is more than a matter of local low
pressure.

Furthermore, much of southwestern Asia
has a Mediterranean rather than a monsoon
climate. Both have wet and dry periods

Climate and Vegetation

but, with the Mediterranean type, rain falls air may be identified. Polar Arctic air
during the winter months and the summers masses move from Nova Zemlya to south-
are dry. ern China, and Tropical Pacific air at times

Asia’s rainfall varies from over 450 inches to an inch or less, according to wind systems and mountain
barriers. The heaviest precipitation occurs on mountains in the path of prevailing winds, as in India and South-
eastern Asia, while the driest areas are behind mountains, as in western China.

Not enough is known of air mass move- penetrates almost to Lake BaikaL Sounding
ments over Asia to present a complete pic- balloons show that the upper air is every-
ture, but Polar, Tropical, and Equatorial where moving from the west.

Asians Continental Patterns

Cyclonic and anticyclonic storms are the Atlantic and enter Europe. Many die
more important in Asia than previously out in the interior. They bring with them,

Almost every known climate occurs in Asia. The following Koeppen symbols define the major regions.
A climates have rain and high temperatures the year around. B represents dry climates, modified by S for steppe
or W for desert (wuste). C and D are temperate climates usually moist, C with long hot summers and mild winters
and D with short summers and severe winters. E stands for polar climates, divided into ET for tundra and EF
for permanent frost on snow fields.

These major groups are modified as follows: a hot summers, with the warmest month over 72°F., h cool
summers, with four months above 50°F., c cool short summers one to three months above 50°F., d coldest mortth
below — 36®F., / no dry season, s dry summer, w dry winter.

realized. These moving lows and highs are however, the bulk of the rainfall that falls
fewer and smaller than those which cross in Siberia. As they approach the Pacific,

Climate and Vegetation

both highs and lows again become more
numerous, so that China and Japan have
alternations of weather several times a
month. In eastern Asia the southeast quad-
rant of a cyclonic storm draws in moist
winds from the South China Sea, which
occupies a similar position as a source of
moisture to the Gulf of Mexico for eastern
North America. In each continent, much of
the United States and much of China would
be a semidesert if it were not for these
tropical seas to their south. In winter weak
cyclonic storms cross Palestine, Iran, and
northern India, but during most of the year
the main path is well to the north; in sum-
mer, even near the Arctic Circle.

Typhoons are important sources of rain-
fall in the southeast during the summer and
fall.

The influence of the Indian Ocean is
limited to the lands ^south of The Himalaya
and east of the Indus Valley. Pacific mois-
ture seldom penetrates beyond eastern
Mongolia or occasionally to Lake Baikal.
The cold Arctic Ocean contributes but little
precipitation, and only along a fringe in the
north. Despite the great distance to the
Atlantic, it supplies such rain or snow as
falls on a third of Asia. Even 4,000 miles
east of the Atlantic, most rain originates in
that ocean. Several million square miles are
essentially without ocean -derived moisture;
any precipitation that falls is derived by
evaporation from rivers, swamps, and salt
lakes. Since many of these areas appear to
be growing drier, more moisture is blown
out than comes in. As Lyde says, “This is
continentality at its fiercest.”

The seasonal extremes of temperature in-
crease from the equator toward the north-
eastern interior. Near Singapore and
Colombo the average of the warmest and
coldest months differs by scarcely a degree.
Along the Tropic of Cancer the figure rises
to 20°F. The Moscow area shows an annual
range of 45°F. Peiping and the Aral Sea

have a seasonal difference of 60°F. Around
Lake Baikal the figure exceeds 75°F. At the
Asiatic cold pole in the vicinity of Verk-
hoyansk, the July average is 119°F. above
that for January.. Thus average annual
temperatures mean little and are not a basis
for mapping climatic regions.

No scheme of climatic regions is entirely
satisfactory but the most widely used is
that of Wladimir Koeppen. Five major
types are recognized, all of them present in
Asia. Tropical rainy climates with no win-
ters form the A group. B is reserved for dry
climates. Temperate rainy climates with
mild winters where the coldest months
average between 27 and 65°F. {e.g., — 3°C.
and 18°C.) are classed as C; or D if the
winters are boreal, with the coldest month
below 27°F. and the warmest above 50°F.
(10°C.). Polar climates with no warm sea-
son are named E.

Various modifications are introduced to
indicate the season of rainfall or distribu-
tion of warmth. Thus EF, frost or ice cap,
has no month above freezing, whereas FT,
tundra, has temperatures up to 50°F. in its
warmest month. BS, steppe, is less dry than
BWf Wiiste or desert, according to the ratios
between temperature, rainfall, and season.
Various lower-case letters are used to
modify A, C, and D climates: /, feucht or
moist, indicates rainfall every month or at
least enough to tide over a dry period;
w refers to a dry winter; and ^ to a dry
summer; a indicates hot summers; 6, cool
summers; c, cool short summers with less
than three months above 50°F.; and d
where the coldest month is below — 36°F.
B climates are modified by k {halt) where
annual temperatures are below 65 °F.
(18°C.), and h (heiss) where they exceed
65°F., or they may be preceded by C or D
if desired.

Tropical A climates characterize the
peninsulas of India and Southeastern Asia,
as well as the adjoining islands. This is a

Asia's Continental Pattern

monsoon area with every month above
65®F. Coastal areas are Af while the inte-
riors are Aw, Although near the equator
temperatures seldom exceed 90®F.

B climates cover millions of square miles
in the interior, with BS grassland surround-
ing large areas of BW desert. Summer tem-
peratures are everywhere high, but winters
are^ cold in Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Soviet
Middle Asia in contrast to the year-round
heat of Arabia, lowland Iran, and the Thar
Desert of India.

Temperate C climates are present chiefly
in China, Japan, northern India, and parts
of Southwestern Asia. All these except the
last have summer monsoon rain and winter
drought, Cwt but in southern Japan and the
Yangtze Valley the symbol is Cfa. Some of
the chief disadvantages of the Koeppen
system occur with the C group in China
and in India. In the former it fails to stress
the important climatic division into the
North and the South between the Yangtze
and Hwang, while in India the Cw-Aw
boundary, as usually drawn, does not corre-
spond with vegetation, agriculture, or land
use. In the accompanying map these prob-
lems are partly adjusted.

The most characteristic climate of Asia is
D, present throughout most of the U.S.S.R.,
except in Soviet Middle Asia and beyond
the Arctic, and also in Manchuria and
Turkey. Where Atlantic influences pene-
trate the continent in the west and bring
year-round rain and mild summers, the
symbol is Dfb, The northern area is Dfc,
moist but with short summers. Eastern
Siberia has only spmmer rain and is Dwc
or Dwdy according to temperature.

Polar E climates occur in three situations :
the ice cap of Nova Zemlya is EF, most of
the lowland coast is covered with tundra
and has an ET climate, while higher moun-
tains in both northeastern Siberia and in
Tibet are also ET^ or EB where especially
arid

Natural vegetation is the best single
summary of the physical environment, for
it reflects temperature, rainfall, drainage,
elevation, and soil. Parts of Asia have been
cultivated so long that no trace of the un-
disturbed cover remains; elsewhere studies
of ecological botany are incomplete. The
general distribution shows many resem-
blances to the Koeppen map of climatic
regions. The vegetation is here described
by the same letters used in the legend of
the map.

A belt of tundra. A, extends along the
entire Arctic coastal plain and inland along
higher elevations between the valleys. The
subsoil is permanently frozen and plant
growth is limited to less than three months.
Swamps and lakes are very numerous, many
of them associated with Pleistocene glacia-
tion. Mosses, lichens, brush, and dwarf
trees form the vegetation. The mountain
flora of The Himalaya, Tien Shan, and
other high areas is a specialized subtype.

Temperate coniferous forests, R, cover
millions of square miles where the summers
are short and the winters con tinen tally cold.
This is the Siberian taiga, a boreal forest of
conifers such as larch, fir, and pine with
some deciduous whitewoods such as birch
and aspen. Commercial timber is limited to
the southern portions. The soils are acid
podsols.

Splendid forests of mixed conifers and
deciduous trees, C, occur where milder
climate prevails, both in the extreme east
and west. Brown forest soils are the pre-
vailing type.

Tropical and subtropical mixed forests,
Dy once covered southern China and Japan
and still remain in the mountains. They
include broadleaf evergreen trees, pine,
fir, oak, and bamboo. Soils are yellow to
red.

Prairie, steppe, and semidesert vegeta-
tion, Ey corresponds roughly to the dis-
tribution of cool BS climate. Dry grasses

Climate and Vegetation

Natural vegetation is the best single guide to land usability. Tundra and coniferous forest or taiga cover
the cold lands of the north, tropical rain forest lies near the equator, with desert and mountain flora over the
interior. The divisions are as follows;

A . Tundra and mountain vegetation F. Desert vegetation

B. Temperate coniferous forest 0. Savanna and tropical scrub-woodland

C. Temperate mixed coniferous and deciduous forest H, Tropical deciduous forest

D. Tropical and subtropical mixed evergreen and I. Tropical and subtropical rain forest

coniferous forests J, High plateau vegetation

E. Prairie, steppe, and semidesert K. Original vegetation unknown

{Data from ** Great Soviet World Atlas Buck^ Champion^ and elsewhere.)

Asia's Continental Pattern

and low brush reflect the aridity and pro-
vide pasturage for nomads. Where the tem-
perature is low and evaporation moderate,
excellent grasslands may develop even with
12 inches of rainfall. These regions have
exceptionally fertile chernozem soil.

Deserts, F, are not necessarily lifeless,
but plants are so scattered that bare ground
is exposed between them.

Savanna and tropical scrub woodland, G,
is a result of seasonal rainfall, high temper-
atures, and excessive evaporation. It is
found in the drier parts of India and is the
proper jungle. Laterite is the end product
of soil leaching on level areas.

Tropical deciduous forests, H, are charac-
teristic of the moist monsoon lands of
southern Asia with 40 to 80 inches of rain.
Teak is one of the best known trees.

Where the rainfall is heaviest, a dense
rain forest results, /. This is a lofty ever-
green forest, composed of a great variety of
hardwoods, often 200 feet high. Mangrove
coastal swamps are a special type. Soils are
seriously leached and invariably infertile.

The high barren plains of Tibet have
their distinctive vegetation, J,

The deltas of the Hwang and Yangtze
appear to have been occupied by man al-
most since the time of their formation so
that natural vegetation never had an oppor-
tunity to develop. Similar conditions may
have prevailed in parts of the Ganges Delta.
These are shown by the symbol K,

People

One billion, three hundred and twenty-
six million people in Asia present the most
challenging of all geographic problems.
Who are they, where do they live, what do
they do, and what of their future ?

The anthropological relationships and
the cultural history are not clear. Two
maps show the distribution of racial groups
and population density. Hundreds of ethnic

groups live here, no less than 169 in the
Soviet Union alone. In India there are over
200 languages, of which 20 are spoken by
at least a million people each. China is sup-
posed to have a homogeneous culture, but
in the single province of Fukien there are
108 dialects.

The conventional grouping into Mon-
golians in the east and Caucasians in the
west lacks validity. Olive-skinned, light-
brown, and dark-brown people live in both
areas. Head indexes show no differentiation,
nor does stature. Cultural history likewise
indicates no such separation, for time and
again peoples and cultures have moved
between the east and Mie west of Asia. Cli-
matic fluctuations in the heart of the
continent have repeatedly sent waves of
migration into Europe, India, and China.
Griffith Taylor has thus proposed the term
Alpine-Mongolian to indicate that the
Mongol type is only a variation of the fairly
homogeneous group of peoples who occupy
the main bulk of Eurasia. These people are
all broad-headed. Three major language
groups prevail in Eurasia: Aryan in the
west, Altaic in the north, and Tibeto-
Chinese in the southeast.

The principal features on the map of
racial groups are the wedge of Russians in
the north, the block of Chinese in the east,
and the Indie people in the south. What the
map fails to indicate is that almost every
group shown may be divided and sub-
divided. What* we need is an unfolding
moving picture to show the evolution, mi-
gration, and mixture of these peoples during
the past hundred thousand years. History
is a sequence, of which geography merely
shows a momentary scene.

The map of population density equally
presents a challenge. When Confucius said
that “one look is worth a thousand words”
he might well have been thinking of a pic-
ture such as this. Asia has many places
where people are few, and a few places

Geostrategy in Asia

where people are very many. No map in all Geostrategy in Asia
the book is so important as this one of

population, for it clearly shows where people The vast spaces of Asia have been a

live and in what numbers, and raises the favorite field for writers in geopolitics. Un-

A chart of population distribution is the most significant of all maps, for it presents the most challenging of
geographic questions, “Why do people live here, and what do they do? ” Asia’s people live in the good land, and
there are vast areas that offer little attraction for settlement. (Data from ** Great Soviet World Atlas I, 47-48.)

question of why they do not live elsewhere, fortunately many of them have too little
Subsequent chapters should be read in understood the geography of the continent
terms ofthis map of population distribution, which they have utilized, and have failed

Asia's Continental Pattern

The largest of continents is also the most ethnographically complex. Even with much simplification 68 nation-
alities must be recognized. {Data from ** Great Soviet World Atlas** I.)

1. Ainu

2. Japanese
8. Korean
4. Chinese
6. Mongol

6. Tibetan

7. Yuigur

8. Dungan

9. Nosu

10. Thai

11. Mon

12. Anamite

15. Cambodian

14. Malayan and Javanese
18. Dyak

16. Aeta

17. Burmese

18. Bengalese and Assami

19. Nepalese
SO. Bihar

21. Mundan

22. Uriya

23. Dravidian

24. Ceylonese
28. Maratha

26. Hindustani

27. Rajput

28. Gujarat

29. Sindhi

80. Punjabi

81. Kasnirian
32. Beluchi
88. Afghan
84. Tajik

88. Kirghiz

86. Kaunuck

87. Uzbek

88. Kazakh

89. Karakalpak
40. Turkmen

Persian

Arab

Kashkai and Luri

Kurd

Turk

Armenian and Persian-Turk
Georgian, Azerbaijani, and
Avar

Other Trans-Caucasians
(Ossetian, Abkhasian,
Kumiki, etc.)

Ukrainian
Great Russian
Moldavian and Magyar
Pole

White Russian
Lithuanian, Latvian, and
Esthonian
Volga-German
Mordovian, Udmurt (Vot-

^ak), Chuvash and Bash-

87. Finn, Karelian, and Saami

88. Komi^*(^iryan) and Nansi

(Vogul)

80. Nenetse (Gold) and Dolgan

60. Khante, (Ostiyak); Kyeti,

and Syelkupe

61. Oriot, Khakasian, and Bu-

riat- Mongol

62. Evenki

68. Eveni (Lamut)

64. Yakut

68. Odul (Yukagir), .and Luora-
vetlan (Chukchi)

66. Nimilan (Koryak)

67. Hebrew

68. Nonai (Goldi), Ude, aoo

Nivkhi (Gilyak)

Geostrategy in Asia

adequately to think in terms of the round
earth.

German theories of geopolitics visualize
the state as an organism and as such in
need of living room; only as it grows and
expands can it live. Under Karl Haushofer
at Munich there developed the Institut fUr
Geopolitik which studied the political ge-
ography of the world and formulated dy-
namic plans for action by which Germany
might achieve her place in the sun. Rela-
tively little attention was given the New
World, and since advance westward against
France and Britain appeared difficult, the
natural direction of expansion was thought
to lie in the east, toward and into the Soviet
Union. Many of these ideas are echoed in
Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”

Behind the plans of Haushofer lies the
volume by the distinguished British geog-
rapher, Halford Mackinder, “Democratic
Ideals and Reality.” This was written at
the close of the First World War as a
warning to the peacemakers concerning the
necessity of securely enclosing Germany on
the east. Mackinder viewed history as a
contest between land power and sea power.
The latter can outflank land power and
draw on distant supplies through command
of the ocean, but it needs an adequate base.
Land power can win in the long run if it
has resources, size, and location.

Mackinder contended that the World
Island of Europe, Asia, and Africa is domi-
nant, and that the Heartland of interior
Asia is the key to security. This core lies
behind mountains and deserts and is
immune to sea-launched attack. Only on
the west is it vulnerable, and only through
the effort of advanced European technique
and capital can it be developed. Hence
his famous statement: “Who rules eastern
Europe commands the Heartland. Who
rules the Heartland commands the World-
Island. Who rules the World-Island com-
mands the World.” To prevent German

access to the gates of the Heartland, Mac-
kinder favored a corridor of buffer states
such as Poland and Czechoslovakia whose
security was imperative for the peace of
the world.

This Asiatic Heartland includes all of the
Soviet Union except the part drained by
the Pacific and that west of the Volga,
plus Mongolia, Sinkiang, Tibet, and Iran.
The area is large and well supplied with raw
materials but not with agricultural possi-
bilities; the population is not likely ever to
be numerous in comparison with the rest of
the world.

Strategic position, whether in war or
peace, involves the favorable disposition of
at least nine geographic elements: (1) size,
(2) shape, (3) accessibility, (4) location, (5)
boundaries, (6) relation to the ocean, (7)
topography, (8) minerals, and (9) climate.

The importance of size was dramatically
demonstrated during the Second World
War, when the Soviet Union and China
were able to retreat and thereby gain time
for further resistance, in contrast to Bel-
gium and Poland which lacked defense in
depth. But mere size is not enough. No
large army could withdraw into Mongolia
or Tibet or northern Siberia and survive,
for there are inadequate productive facili-
ties. Too great an area may be a handicap
unless well united. The Heartland is large
and remote but it is devoid of the possi-
bilities for major economic strength. No
existing country anywhere will have suffi-
cient size to be immune to air attack
tomorrow, or to furnish an adequate base
for world conquest. Nor could a combi-
nation of neighboring nations, such as the
Soviet Union and China or the Soviet Union
and Germany, be secure on the basis of
size alone. Mackinder overlooked the fact
that his Heartland is just over the top of
the world from North America. With the
air age, there are no longer any inaccessible
countries or continental cores.

Asians Continental Pattern

Form or shape is a second element in factory gross shape, the distribution of
geostrategy. A nation like Chile is so good land and people and communica-

Areas that are more than ten miles from railways, navif^able rivers, or automobile roads usually find it
difficult to engage in trade or to share in the circulation of ideas. The Soviet Union and India are well supplied
with railways; in China many of the above lines represent automobile roads.

drawn out that while her area equals that tions is so eccentric that the form lacks
of Germany, economic unity is made coherence.

difficult. Canada appears compact on the Accessibility is of great importance in
map, but her* population is as attenuated economic geography. Anything beyond
as that of Chile, no more than a fringe subsistence livelihood requires trade and
along the boundary of the United States, communications. The accompanying map
While Mackinder’s Heartland has a satis- presents the picture for Asia. All areas

Geostrategy in Asia

within ten miles of a railway, navigable
river, or automobile road are shown in
black. Elsewhere travel is by camels or
mules, carts, sedan chairs, or wheelbarrows.
Three dark areas stand out clearly: the
western Soviet Union and India, both well
supplied with a network of railways, and
China where many of the lines represent
new automobile roads. Interior Asia is
hearly inaccessible in terms of modern
communications. Northern Siberia has
only its rivers, ice-bound for much of the
year. No road links Burma and India, and
only one leads from Burma to China. No
railway and only one road connects India
with Southwestern Asia. The coherence and
invulnerability of a Heartland need to be
considered in terms of a map such as this.
Certainly other parts of the continent have
better communications.

Location is the prime question in all of
geography, not “where** in terms of lati-
tude and longitude, but “where** in terms
of good land and markets and world high-
ways. Shanghai owes its importance not to
latitude, but to the hinterland of the
Yangtze Vall^. The mouths of the great
Siberian rivers lack good harbors, but the
productivity of the interior is forcing port
developments. Throughout history, the
Russian Bear has sought warm water, an
outlet to the unfrozen ocean. Position is
inescapably important in political policy
and economic orientation. The Heartland
represents the climax of continentality, but
few nations have achieved cultural or any
other progress without external contacts.
China may have wished that she did not
have such an exposed coast line, but the
peacetime assets greatly outweigh the
military liabilities. Japan has an excellent
position in the western Pacific but lacks a
secure home base. Her defeat became so
difficult during the Second World War
because of her newly enlarged size and the
central position of Japan within this
temporary empire.

The significance of location can change.
Thus Rome was once the center of the
civilized world but the Mediterranean is
now a minor body of water. Interior Asia is
increasing its population, but there is no
likelihood that it will ever hold the con-
trolling part of mankind. Nor is it likely
that a developed Heartland could be domi-
nated by a Germany or any other alien
power far from the center of gravity. We
live in a North Atlantic world, and it
appears probable that Europe and North
America will continue to lead; this ocean
may even become an Anglo-Saxon lake.

Boundaries frequently present problems;
here is the fifth component of geostrategy.
Mackinder has followed deserts and moun-
tains in defining the Heartland. These form
natural obstacles to ground travel but not
to the airplane. If such barriers keep armies
from trespassing they equally keep out
goods, people, and ideas. No civilization
can progress without stimulating contacts.
Thus China has empty interior frontiers,
but she is open to world ideas on the east.

The ocean is still the cheapest highway;
without free access to it, a nation suffers.
The history of civilization may be traced
in terms of progressively larger and larger
water bodies, from the Nile to the Aegean
and Mediterranean and Atlantic, and in
some measure in the future to the Pacific.
Oceans are highways, not barriers. The
Heartland has a long border next to the
Arctic Ocean, but that is frozen for much of
the year. Under whatever form of govern-
ment, Russia will inevitably continue its
quest for a harbor on the Persian Gulf,
along the Scandinavian coast, and on the
Yellow Sea.

Topography is the seventh element in
geostrategy. Here Asia suffers, for rugged
ranges isolate its various realms, ^he
Himalaya would assuredly provide the
Heartland with security from invasion on
the south, but they also block trade. China
benefited during the Japanese invasion by

Asians Continental Pattern

having poor roads in her hill country so
that the mechanized equipment of the
conqueror could not be used but, if there
had been better communications for a
decade previously, China might have been
strong enough to resist more effectively.

Raw materials, both mineral and agri-
cultural, are vital in our modern world.
Other nations in other times have achieved
conspicuous success in art or philosophy,
but in the twentieth century national
greatness rests, perhaps too much, on coal,
oil, iron, copper, and aluminum. Lord
Curzon remarked that, during the First
World War, the Allies “floated to victory
on a sea of oil.” During the Second War
they flew to victory on a cloud of gasoline.
The following chapters consider the distri-
bution of mineral resources in some detail.
Nature has unfortunately played favorites
and has distributed the good things of the
earth unevenly. The Soviet Union is
exceptionally rich in many of these, China
has coal in abundance and India has large
amounts of iron ore, but no nation is fully
self-sufficient. It is not apparent that
interior Asia will ever lead the world in
industry. Trade is inevitable.

Climate is the last but far from the least
of these factors. Health and progress are
directly related to it. It is not likely that a
League of Nations will ever have its capital
in Singapore or in Yakutsk. Nor will ex-
ceptionally energetic people live in these
areas. Maps of climatic energy give lower
rank to most of Asia than to Europe or
North America. The long period of winter
inactivity in the Heartland is certainly a
disadvantage. Agriculture is as vitally
affected as is man.

This somewhat lengthy analysis of some
components of geostrategy not only is
directed to a consideration of the Heart-
land, but serves as a check list for the
detailed consideration of each country that
follows. No deterministic approach is

possible, for human factors may reverse the
totality of the physical environment. Thus
language, nationality, religion, population
density, and occupations are each of
geographic concern.

In place of the Heartland concept, it
would appear more in line with geographic
realities to suggest that the interior core
will remain of minor importance and that
the great nations of Asia will be China, the
Soviet Union, and perhaps India. The
U.S.S.R. is not the same as the Heartland,
for as a nation it has important outlets on
the Paciflc and is in contact with Europe
and the Atlantic world. Each of these
countries has genuine assets of which geo-!’|
graphic security is not the least. Peace and 1
prosperity lie not in withdrawal into the ^
interior but in active participation in a •
world society. ^

The function of geostrategy is to under-
stand a nation’s problems and potential and :
to suggest a program of internal develop-
ment and international cooperation that
will be of mutual value. And if wars are to
recur, it may indicate the wisest course of
action in emergency. This is nothing more
than applied geography.

If there is anywhere a world citadel or
Heartland, it may well lie in North America
rather than in Asia. Twice in the twentieth
century it has been. demonstrated that no
war can be fought without becoming a
world war, and that no world war can be
won without the aid of the United States.
This New World continent has adequate
size, compact shape, internal accessibility,
a central location, good boundaries, access
to two oceans, favorable topography, rich
minerals, excellent climate, and a dynamic
spirit. Its citizens thus need to be particu-.
larly aware of their place in the global air
age. The shortest route from New York to
Chungking is due north over the Pole. The
closest overseas neighbor of the U.S.A. is
the U.S.S.R.

The Regional Framework

areas, generalizations become more valid;
thus one may describe the geography of
China more clearly than that of Asia as a
whole, or the Yellow Plain with more detail

The continent of Eurasia contains six major realms, of which the five in Asia are divided into 22 provinces
and 94 geographic regions. China-Japan includes North China, South China, Outer China, Old Japan, and
Outer Japan. Within the Soviet Union is Soviet Europe, Soviet Middle Asia, and Soviet Siberia. Southwestern
Asia may be broken down into the various political divisions, each of which is a geographic province. India
includes Northern India and Peninsular India. The provinces of Southeastern Asia realm follow political lines.

in themselves, and 5 realms. As the conti- than for all of North China. Regions do not
nent is divided into successively smaller represent the end of subdivision, but they

The Regional Framework
This volume deals with the 94 geographic
regions in Asia. These are grouped into
22 provinces, some of which are also regions

Asia's Continental Pattern

do have sufficient geographic unity and
coherence to make them understandable.

The major realms are five: China- Japan,
the Soviet Union, Southwestern Asia,
India, and Southeastern Asia. They are
divided into provinces and regions in the
accompanying list. More than a third of the
regions are merely designated by their
political place name, for these adequately
define the geographic area. Topographic
words such as plains, mountains, or uplands
are frequently employed, or in some cases
the more general term of valley. Some
regions are typified by their natural vege-
tation or land use. Geographic regions are
based on the total geographic landscape.
Other lists in subsequent chapters deal with
surface configuration, climate, or similar
single elements.

For reasons already indicated, it will be
noticed that the terms Far East and Near
East are seldom used in this volume. Neither
is easily defined, and in any case they
represent an outside approach to Asia
rather than an evaluation of the continent
itself.

Realms, Pro^^nces, and Regions of Asia

CHINA AND JAPAN

North China
Yellow Plain
Shantung Peninsula
Loessland
Manchurian Plain
East Manchurian Up-
lands

Khingan Mountains
Jehol Mountains

South China
Yangtze Plain
Szechwan Basin
Central Mountain Belt
South Yangtze Hills
Southeastern Coast
Canton Hinterland
Southwestern Uplands

Outer China
Mongolia
Sinkiang
Tibet

Old Japan
Kwanto Plain
Central Honshu
Western Honshu , and
the Inland Sea
Shikoku
Kyushu

Northern Honshu

Outer Japan
Hokkaido ^
Karafuto

Kuriles (Chishima)
Korea (Chosen)
Formosa (Taiwan)
South Seas

SOVIET UNION

Soviet Middle Asia
Caucasia
Caspian Deserts
Pamirs and Associated
Ranges

Oases of Southern
Turan

Aral-Balkhash Desert

Soviet Europe
Ukrainia
White Russia
Baltic States
Metropolitan Leningrad
Kola-Karelian Taiga
Dvina-Pechora Taiga
Central Agricultural
Plain

Metropolitan Moscow
Southern Agricultural
Plain

Ural Mountains

Soviet Siberia

, West Siberian Agricultural Plain
Altai-Sayan Mountains
Ob Taiga
Yenisei Taiga
Arctic Fringe
Baikalia
Lena Taiga

Northeastern Mountains
The Far East

Turkey

Marmara Lowlands
Black Sea Fringe
Mediterranean Fringe
Anatolian Uplands
Armenian Uplands

SOUTHWESTERN ASIA

Syria and Palestine
Arabia
Iraq
Iran

A fghanistan

Northern India

Bengal — Orissa Plain
Ganges Valley
Brahmaputra Valley
Assam Hills
Himalayan Highlands
Indus Valley
Thar Desert
Western Frontier

INDIA

Peninsular India
West Coast
Black Soil Uplands
Northern Uplands
Eastern Uplands
Southern Peninsula
Ceylon

SOUTHEASTERN ASIA

Burma

Irrawaddy Valley
Burma Mountains
Shan Plateau
"Yenasserim Coast
Thailand
Central Thailand
Northern Thailand
Northeastern Thailand
Southern Thailand
Indo-China
Red Plain

Indo-China Mountains
Mekong Plain

Malaya

Netherlands Indies
Java

Outer Provinces
Philippine Islands
Luzon

Viseyan Islands
Mindanao

Chapter 3

THE CHINESE LANDSCAPE

Human Heritage

China is more than a place on the map.
Here is a unique phenomenon. Other lands
are older and others more beautiful, but
nowhere else have so many people lived so
close to nature and with such cultural
continuity as in China. The landscape
everywhere reflects the intensity of man’s
occupance. The culture of the ages has
permeated all levels of society so that even
the ricksha coolie quotes Confucius. No
land on earth is so mature.

The Chinese landscape is vast in time as
well as in area and in numbers. More
human beings have lived on this good earth
than on any similar area in the world.
Almost everywhere man has long ago
utilized the resources of nature up to the
limit of the tools at his command. The
present is thus the product of a long and
very rich heritage. The problems of today
arise from the sudden impact of the western
world and the reorientation of her pattern
of life. Only those who understand China’s
history and geography as a whole can
properly evaluate the events of the twen-
tieth century. This is not a typical period
in her history, for the maturity of her
social adjustments has been upset by the
sudden discovery of an outside world order.

The roots of the Chinese go deep into the
earth. The carefully tilled gardens, the
hand-plucked harvest, and the earthen
homes all tell the story of man’s intimate
association with nature. On every hand a
substantial peasantry labors industriously
to wrest a meager livelihood from the tiny

fields. Innumerable groups of farm build-
ings, half hidden in clumps of bamboo or
willow, suggest the intensity of man’s quest
for food, and the ever-present grave mounds
serve as reminders of the heritage of this
venerable land.

The most significant element in the
Chinese landscape is thus not the soil or
vegetation or the climate, but the people.
Everywhere there are human beings. In this
old, old land, one can scarcely find a spot
unmodified by man and his activities.
Whereas life has been profoundly in-
fluenced by the environment, it is equally
true that man has reshaped and modified
nature and given it a human stamp. The
Chinese landscape is a biophysical unity,
knit together as intimately as a tree and the
soil from which it grows. So deeply is man
rooted in the earth that there is but one all-
inclusive unity — not man and nature as
separate phenomena but a single organic
whole. The cheerful peasants at work in the
fields are as much a part of nature as the
very hills themselves. So, too, the carefully
tended rice fields are an inescapable ele-
ment in the human panorama.

No mere photographic portrayal of China
can reveal all the varied ties that bind man
and the soil together. Crisscross through
the visibly scene run innumerable threads
of relationship. The landscape is a mosaic
of many diverse elements, some dependent
upon the vagaries of a none-too-certain
rainfall, some conditioned by the limitations
of the soil, still others molded ^Dy the force
of tradition. All of these are linked together
into a synthetic, animated picture. It is the

The Chinese Landscape

task of geography to describe and under- Whereas the United States and the
stand liese relationships, to draw in- Soviet Union extend from east to west,
formation from widely scattered sources, China trends north and south. From the far

The Temple of Heaven at Peiping was built during the thirteenth century. Here the Emperor worshipped on
behalf of the country at midnight during the winter solstice. {De Couy from Eiving Galloway.)

and to give it a new significance as applied south of Hainan to the northernmost bend
to the understanding of specific areas, of the Amur River is 2,500 miles. These
This living panorama forms the cultural extremes reach from well inside the ‘tropics
landscape. to within 13® from the Arctic Circle. Thus

China is not only rich in her culture, she agricultural possibilities and means of
is diverse in her physical environment. Few livelihood vary notably. If superimposed on
countries have greater contrasts. Rainfall North America, China would spread from
varies from an inch a year in the desert to Puerto Rico to Hudson Bay, with the
nearly a hundred inches along the coastal Yangtze Valley in the latitude of New
mountains. Extensive forests stand in con- Orleans.

trast to denuded hillsides. RicJfe is eaten Few large countries have such a large
three times a day in the South, but is a percentage of hilly or otherwise unculti-
once-a-year luxury elsewhere. Shanghai vable land. Only through prodigious effort
may be a cosmopolitan city of the world, and painstaking care have the Chinese been
but one has to go only a few hundred able to support so large a population. This
yards beyond its borders to find a primitive topographic diversity has divided China
countryside. into many regions, each with its personality

History

and often with rivalries with other regions, distinct geographic realm because the
The Chinese of the various provinces differ physical and the cultural geography are
in physical appearance, in language, and in interwoven in a uniquely mature whole.

The Chinese are among the most friendly and democratic of all peoples. {Courtesy China Famine Relief.)

psychology. For example, the development
the “almond eye’’ characterizes 36 per
[jent of the people around Canton, 23 per
3ent near Shanghai, and only 11 to 21
per cent in the north.

Despite these contrasts, China has a
distinct homogeneity. Dialects may differ
but tbe written language is the same. The
degree of modernization may vary but
everywhere is a coherent ideology, in large
Qfieasure the heritage of Confucius and the
sages. It is this way of life, of getting along
svith each other and with nature, that
makes the Chinese so genuine. Here is a

History

The history of China begins with Sinan-
thropus pekinensis, the Peking man. Since
the first discoveries near Peiping in 1928,
the skeletal material has increased so that
by 1943 there were 13 skulls and bones
representing at least 45 individuals. No
other primitive man is so well authenticated
or dated. Sinanthropus lived in the early
Pleistocene and is roughly contemporaneous
with Pithecanthropus in Java. The links
with modern man are uncertain, but many
features connect Sinanthropus with present-

The Chinese Landscape

day Mongoloids. So far as is known, the
Chinese have always lived in China; sug-
gestions as to a central Asian nomadic
ancestry have no foundation.

The earliest written records date from
1200 B.C., and earlier dates are known to be
fictitious. The first nationwide dynasty is
the Han, 206 b.c. to a.d. 220. Later came the
Tang, 618 to 007, the Sung, 060 to 1280, the
Yuan or Mongol, 1260 to 1368, the Ming,
1368 to 1644, and the Ching or Manchu,
1644 to 1011. Most of these major dynasties
have been times of stability and progress;
between them have been intervals of chaos
and confusion. It is unfortunate that we of
the Occident should be learning of China
during one of these transition intervals, un-
representative of the country at its best.

As Latourette has pointed out,^ “ . . .
seldom has any large group of mankind
been so prosperous and so nearly contented
as were the Chinese under this govern-
mental machinery when it was dominated
by the ablest of the monarchs of the Han,
the T‘ang, the Sung, the Ming, and the
Ch‘ing. It was due largely to their govern-
ment, moreover, that the Chinese achieved
and maintained so remarkable a cultural
unity and displayed such skill — all the
more notable because they were partly
unconscious of it — in assimilating invaders.
When one recalls how Western Europe, no
larger than China proper and with no more
serious internal barriers of geography,
failed, both to its great profit and infinite
distress, to win either political or cultural
unity, the achievement of the Chinese
becomes little short of phenomenal.”

The present political era dates from the
Revolution of 1911 which overthrew the
Manchus, and the subsequent establish-
ment of the Nationalist Government under
Chiang Kai-shek in 1928. With the estab-

1 Latouhettk, Kenneth Scott, “The Chinese,
Their History and Culture,” New York: Macmillan
(1984), II, 21.

lishment of that government, the capital
was removed from Peking to Nanking.
Later on, during the Japanese invasion, it
was temporarily located at Chungking.
Although the rest of the world failed to
appreciate the situation at the time, it is
now clear that the Second World War began
with the Mukden Incident of Sept. 18,
1931, when Manchuria was overrun by the
Japanese. The second phase of the Sino-
Japanese War dates from July 7, 1937.

China’s history is a by-product of her
geography. Southeastern Asia is almost an
oasis, largely self-sufl&cient and isolated
from the rest of mankind. Until the era of
modern travel, the most perfect barriers
surrounded China on all sides. Towering
plateaus, arid deserts, tropical forests, and
the widest of the oceans all helped to pre-
serve the unity of China. Nowhere near by
was there an equal neighbor, except in
India which was months away. It is but
natural that the Chinese thought of them-
selves as living in the “Middle Kingdom.”

The most dangerous of these frontiers
was in the north, for the Mongols gave the
Chinese more trouble than all other “bar-
barians” put together. Hence the Great
Wall was built, linked together out of
earlier parts by the Emperor Chin Shih
about 220 b.c. Unfortunately this rampart
failed to achieve the desired result. In times
of greater rainfall, the Chinese farmers
were not willing to stay on their side of the
fence and pushed cultivation into the grass-
lands to the north, while, during decades of
drought, the wandering Mongol shepherds
sought pasturage in the more humid lands
within the Wall.

Only a few travelers reached China from
Europe, notably Marco Polo and the
Jesuit missionaries. Only occasional Chinese
pilgrims went westward, but even in 128
B.c. the explorer Chang Chien crossed the
Pamirs and reached Bukhara. The first
Chinese to visit India was Fa Hsien in

History

A..D. 413; like other pilgrims in quest of these seaports became the new front doors
Buddhism he traveled via Sinkiang. Most of China. Instead of being a barrier, the
of this contact with the west was overland, ocean is now a highway. The Jade Gate

The Great Wall, here seen near Nankow Pass west of Peiping, marks China’s attempt to fix the frontier
between the wandering nomads of The Gobi and the settled farmers of Agricultural China. {Courtesy Canadian
Pacific Steamship Co.)

but a few Arab vessels came to Canton and
Hangchow, even as early as a.d. 300.

Insofar as China had a front door, it was
the Jade Gate at the Tibetan end of the
Great Wall, named from the caravans that
brought jade, properly nephrite, from the
Kuen Lun Mountains. Out through it
passed other caravans carrying silk and
porcelains, some of which were carried as
far as Roman Britain. China thus faced
toward Inner Asia, and Japan was only of
incidental concern. With the arrival of
Europeans and the development of Canton,
Shanghai, and Tientsin a century ago,

faded into a poetic memory. Through the
new coastal cities has flowed a tide of ideas
which have altered the superficial life of
many Chinese. Large countries do not
easily change their cultural momentum or
orientation, hence the reconstruction of a
nation as big and numerous and ancient as
China has created major problems.

During the Second World War when the
seacoast was occupied by Japan, China was
again obliged to reorient her internal
activities. Foreign contacts were again via
the west, and a new type of freight moved
in through the Jade Gate.

40 The Chinese Landscape

China has had few years of normal oppor- China’s assets proved to be an unsuspected
tunity since the Revolution of 1911, but the patriotism and defense in depth. With
resiliency of trade and the cultural progress plenty of room into which to retire, China

Some of the finest buildings in Asia line the Shanghai Bund along the Whangpoo River. The building in the far
distance is a 24-story apartment hotel. {Ewing Galloway.)

in times of peace have been amazing. Japan could afford to sell space in order to buy

doubtless invaded China when she did time.

because of the realization that another . ,

decade of internal development might make Tohtica attern

conquest impossible. From the beginning China’s international boundaries have
of the Manchurian conquest in 1931, it was never remained fixed for more than a few
clear that China was not yet strong enough centuries at a time. Some Chinese dynasties
to defeat Japan; what did not become evi- on occasion have included areas west of
dent until later was the fact that Japan the Pamirs, on the south slopes of The
could not conquer and develop China. Until Himalaya, in northern Indo-China, along
outside aid arrived, the situation is aptly the left bank of the Amur River, as well as
described by the Chinese proverb of a man Korea, Formosa, and the Liuchiu Islands,
riding a tiger; the tiger could not get at the Under the last or Ching Dynasty, China
man but the rider was afraid to get off. was divided into 18 provinces and four

Political Pattern

Irkutsk^

Uliasstrtai

Ulan Bator

Tiliwa

(Urumchi)

SINKIANG

OUTER MONGOLIA ' .. J

/cHAHARf

/■ " \ / JEHOL^.M^sy^"

\ '' "7 'S'u I Y UAN .J’'''^K, J»,Chan«‘'hyWvi^^^

,.i..., Sucw’ >'NINGSiii'YP^

'liia

CHINGHAI

/, / .fSHANSr-^^inj U > 1

farther N,

TIBET

•L N HONANVJ

<>$HANTur^ -

^^asa;^ S I K A N G

30*

( SZECHWAN ■■ ' HU^EI^I:-..^

\CHENGTIT T r <''

C V ^••••■•CHEKIAMG

■-_ ■ 7 r-''--, I C --ii. r #fU 4

'-.J ’-"f ^V\.j /ZTT^--- ' V /Chu^shB Jv >

‘"I XKl y H / kiangso-v- ^

V/ x r /- KWEICHOWH HUNAN# \

. ^ / I LAJ S ,, .• . .( ,-..., •: C FUKIEN^

^ Ku„n.ing /

v^. ■■. -•' KwR.ilin '•'■■V ^ ••■.■' ..-fe:'!:;-

r'T.iw'^"

'v. TUNnan ? ''■' e^r" ""'W

\^hot^

r-,,.KWAN6Sr

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Hanoi7mfiphong<^ Kiun^hor^

Crtist; Asii'i Landi And Pcoplts (

SCALE 1:30,000,000
200 400 600 800

China is composed of 28 provinces and 2 outer territories. Three of her major cities are in the north ; Peiping,
Tientsin, and Mukden; five are in the Yangtze Valley: Shanghai, Nanking, Hankow, Chungking, and Chengtu;
while two others are in the south: Canton, and Victoria on the island of Hongkong.

The Chinese Landscape

dependencies. Several of the provinces were
united at times, but it is customary for the
Chinese to refer to the traditional part of
their country south of the Great Wall as
“the Eighteen Provinces.*’ Today there are
28 provinces and two territories. The
original provinces, with their present areas
and capitals are as follows.^ Areas are those
given in the Chinese yearbook.

Province

Capital

Area in
square
miles

Anhwei

Anking

51,888

Chekiang

Hangchow

39,780

Fukien

Foochow

61,258

Honan

Kaifeng

66,676

Hopei (Chihli)

Peiping (Peking)

59,321

Hunan

Changsha

105,767

Hupei

Wuchang

80,169

ICansu

Lanchow (Kaolan)

145,930

Kiangsi

Nanchang

77,280

Kiangsu

Chinkiang

41,818

Kwangsi

Kweilin

83,985

Kwangtung

Canton

83,917

Kweichow

Kweiyang

69,278

Shansi

Taiyuan

60,190

Shantung

Tsinan

69,197

Shensi

Sian (Changan)

72,334

Szechwan

Chengtu

166,485

Y unnan

Kunming

123,539

The nineteenth province was created in
1878 when Sinkiang was raised from
territorial status.

Sinkiang (Chinese

Turkestan) !

Tihwa (Urumchi)

705,769

Manchuria was divided into three prov-
inces in 1903 and was rearranged by the
Japanese into 19 administrative districts
during the period of “Manchoukuo.”

^ A few Chinese geographical terms are as follows:
north — peif south — nan, east — tung^ west — si, moun-
tain — shaut sea — Aai, lake — hut river — ho or Hang,

Liaoning (Fengtien)

Mukden

124,223

Kirin

109,384

Heilungkiang

Tsitsihar

173,554

Mongolia has two parts: Inner Mongolia
next to the Great Wall and thus closer to
Peiping, and Outer Mongolia. In 1912 the
former was divided into four provinces.

Chahar

Changchiakow (Kalgah)

107,677

Jehol

Chengteh (Jehol)

74,277

Ningsia

106,115

Suiyuan

Kweihwa (Kweisui)

112,492

Outer Mongolia has been independent
since 1921, and is made up of two states
under the protection of the Soviet Union,
not recognized by China or by other
foreign powers. One is the Mongolian
People’s Republic, with its capital at Ulan
Bator, formerly Urga, and the other is the
Tuvinian People’s Republic, whose capital
is Kizil Khoto. Their areas are 580,150 and
64,000 square miles, respectively.

Tibet is also made up of two sections:
Nearer Tibet and Farther Tibet. The latter
is a semiindependent territory with its
capital at Lhasa and an area of 349,419
square miles. The former is divided into
two provinces, thus bringing the total to 28.

Chinghai ....

. . . Sining

271,116

Sikang

. , . I Kangting (Tatsienlu)

143,437

Greater China thus has an area of 4,380,-
535 square miles, of which 3,386,966 lies
within the provinces.

Population Problems

Two of China’s major problems concern
people and transportation, and it is
appropriate to consider them in this first
chapter. No one can travel across the
country without being impressed by the
pressure of people on the arable land. Even
in remote and inhospitable areas where one

Population Problems

journeys for miles without seeing a house, of famine and invasion and political strife
as soon as one comes to a bit of good land and population increase have pushed the

Centuries of famine, invasion, and normal population increase have pushed the 450,000,000 Chinese into
every area that will possibly support life. This population map is at the same time a guide to agricultural possi-
bilities and level land. The dark areas are densely populated because there people can live, the lightly dotted
areas have been demonstrated to have a low population-supporting capacity- No conspicuous changes are
possible.

there painstaking farmers have crowded Chinese into every corner that will support
the soil to its maximum capacity. Centuries life. No more good unused land remains.

The Chinese Landscape

One glance at the accompanying popula-
tion map will show how unevenly these
people are distributed, but the answer to
overcrowding does not lie in redistribution.
The sparsely settled areas merely have less
population-supporting capacity and are
already as crowded as the others. The
dense areas are dense because conditions of
livelihood ai*e more attractive. China’s
population map is at the same time a map
of agricultural productivity; change the
legend and one would almost pass for the
other.

A line drawn from southernmost Yunnan
to northernmost Heilungkiang divides
China into two parts. To the west are 2)^
million square miles and 17 million people,
while to the east are 1^4 million square
miles and a population of 457 million. The
first question of geography is; How many
people live where, and why?

Although China is not an urban land,
there are six cities with over 1,000,000
people; Shanghai, Peiping, Tientsin, Han-
kow, Mukden, Canton, and Hongkong,
and as many others between 500,000 and
1,000,000. No satisfactory census returns
are available, and all figures are computed
from doubtful sources. The Ministry of
the Interior published figures in May, 1938,
for 23 of the provinces, as follows ;

Province

Popu-

lation

Province

Popu-

lation

Anhwei

Chahar

23,364,188

2,035,957

Kwangsi

Kwangtung. . .

13,385,215

32,452,811

Chekiang

21,230,749

Kweichow

9,918,794

Chinghai

1,196,054

Ninghsia

978,391

Fukien

11,765,625

34,289,848

Shansi.

11,601,026

38,099,741

Honan

Shantung

Hopei

28.644,437

28,293,736

25.615,855|

6,716,4051

Shensi. . . .

9,779,924

968,187

2,083,693

52,703,210

Hunan

Sikang .

Hupei

Siiiyiian

Kansu

Szechwan

Kiangsi

16,804,623

Yunnan

12,042,157

Kiangsu

36,469,321

Data in the Far Eastern Yearbook for
1941, with population figures on Man-
churia provinces for October, 1940, and the
Kwantung Leased Territory for 1938, are
as follows:

Heilungkiang \

I . . . 43,*33,»64 (or 81,008,600*)

Liaoning (Fengtien)/

Kwantung Leased Terri-
tory I,ie55,570

The remaining areas of China are as
follows :

Outer Mongolia (Mongo-
lian People’s Republic) . . 840,000 (or 2,077,069^)

Tannu Tuva (Tuvinian

People’s Republic) 90,000

Sinkiang 4,360,020i (or 2,677,724)

Farther Tibet 1,600,000 (or 3,722,0110

Kowloon Leased Territory . 97,781

Shanghai International'

Settlement

Shanghai French Conces-
sion ,

Hankow Foreign Settle-
ments

Kwangchowwan Leased

Territory 300,000

1 1936 figures from Ministry of the Interior.

1,662,000

30,935

This gives a total of 472,580,216 as the
best figure now available. Two other
figures need to be added to cover Greater
China, bringing the grand total to
473,992,369.

Hongkong (British) 1,071,893

Macao (Portugese) 340,260

Other estimates differ widely. Among
them is the 1926 figure of the Post Office,
compiled by hsien, or counties, which
totals 485,508,838 for the 28 provinces, but
omits Outer Mongolia and Farther Tibet.
The most detailed sample census was in
connection with the land utilization studies
of J. Lossing Buck of the University of
Nanking. Although this provides no totals,
it appears that the total population within
his eight agricultural regions, largely south

Population Problems

of the Great Wall, is between 400 and 600
million. Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang,
and Tibet are to be added. From 75 to 80
per cent of these are farmers. Even though
the loss of life in recent decades has been
large, the total population has undoubtedly
increased.

The natural rate of increase is also
impressive. Buck’s figures give 38.3 births
per 1,000 and 27.1 deaths. This net increase
of 11.2 per 1,000 means an additional four
or five million people a year. If the rate
were continued, the population would
double in 65 years. Among large nations
only the Soviet Union and Japan appear to
have a higher rate of increase.

If it were suddenly possible to introduce
modern sanitation, check infant mortality,
eliminate famines, and reduce the death
rate to western standards without lowering
the birth rate, a tremendous increase in
population would occur within a generation.
Large sections of the population, already at
subsistence levels, would be driven into
desperate economic straits.

If one divides China’s population by the
total area, there is an average of 120 per
square mile. This does not represent undue
crowding, for it is but the average of
Indiana and Illinois. On the other hand, if
the eastern and more crowded part of the
country, already referred to above, were
considered, the density is nearly tripled.
Only when specific areas are considered
does a representative picture emerge. Thus
the Yellow Plain of the Hwang River has
an average of 647 people per square mile,
or 978 per square mile of cultivated land.
For China as a whole, there are no less than
1,485 people for each square mile of agri*
cultural land. This gives an average of
0.45 acre of cultivated land per capita.

China has certainly been overpopulated
in the past; whether this situation must
continue depends on the possibility that
technological changes can provide increased

income. The Malthusian checks of starva-
tion, disease, and war have operated
cruelly over the centuries. Flood and

Shan tribesmen are among the various non-Chinese
people of southwestern Yunnan. {Courtesy American
Museum of Natural History.)

drought have caught people without any
reserve of food or money. Perhaps a hun-
dred million have died of famine in the past
century.

Within the total population are many
races other than the Han or Chinese proper.
Nearly twenty million “aborigines” live in
the southwest, a mixture of Shan, Thai,
Mon-khmer, Lolos, and many others.
Mongol, Turkish, and Tungan people each
number about two million. More than a
million Manchus and a million Koreans
live in the northeastern provinces, and
there are over half a million Japanese.
Large numbers of Chinese live overseas,
especially in Thailand, Malaya, Indo-
China, and the East Indies. The total is at
least seven million, or possibly eleven mil-

The Chinese Landscape

lion if all categories of citizenship and racial
mixtures are included.

No more important problem confronts
the China. Too many people now live
on a dangerously low standard. The great-
ness of a nation depends not upon its total
numbers, but upon the quality of their life.
China has a rich culture, but its material
foundations are weak. Any lowering of the
death rate without a corresponding decrease
in the birth rate will be serious. The cultiva-
tion of marginal land and increased crop
yields will help for a while. Industrializa-
tion offers other possibilities, of uncertain
value. In terms of the present an<i near
future it appears clear that China has too
many people.

Cam m u nicai iom

In terms of area, China is second only
to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
But miles are not the pro|>er unit in which
to imderstand areas or distance's in this
country; travel is a matter of time. The
Chinese have come to adjust their unit of
space, the li which i.s roughly a third of a
mile, in terms of uphill or downhill, in the
city or through the country, so that di.s-
tance depends on good roads or l>a<i. Until
recent years, W miles a day was a fair
average for cross-country travel.

Poor communications have handicapped
China tor centuries and have helpc<l to
devdiop a sectionalism that makes it diffi-
cult to unify public opinion. Each valley
and province has tende<l to liecome its
own self-sufficient world. Considerable
trade has moved over the rivers and canals,
and a coarse net of imperial highways
linke<l the provincial empitais, but few
people could afford the time and expense
of travel.

Railways date from 1876, but by 1040
the total length amounted to less than
15,000 miles. Half of this lies in the Man-

churian provinces to the northeast where
there is an adequate coverage. The Peiping-
Tientsin area has five radial lines, but no
other city farther south has more than two
railways. The western provinces and outer
territories are entirely without railway
connection. Only a few Hues penetrate the
south. Nine prt)vinces of thi* *8 are entirely
without railways, and several others have
but a single line. Wherever lines have been
l^uilt, they have carrie<l a cajmeity business
from Uie start. .Vll lines are built on the
American standani gauge, 4 feel 8 inches.
The cori.Htruction of new' railways and the
rehabilitation of existing lines will be one
of the major projects of the ihtmkI follow*-
ing the Seconti World War. In 10€i2, Dr.
Sun Vat-sen wmte his Inieriiatiofial
Development of China,** in w’bich he
slresstMl the ini|K)rlance of imttsp«iriaiion
and mapiml out routes for 100,000 miles of
railway. Many of his pro|KiMHl lines might
Im* change<i by a study of eeoiiomic geog-
raphy, but the is iinfMirtant.

The iinifiaitt(»n of Chitia calls for main
liiie.s liitktng the interii>r prfivirices wiili
the sealsiard, such as ('atitoii to Kunming,
Shanghai to t'htitigking, ami Tientsin to
Outer Mfingolia. I'wfi of the major iiee<ls
are a new irans>.Vsia railway via Sttikiang
to the Soviet l’iii<ni, and an outlet through
Burma to the Indian Ocean.

Automobile highways are of equal impor-
tance. Si>ectacular developmetils shorUy
prior to the JaftaiieM' iiivasioit led to the
completion of some 75,000 miles of road,
alniosi none of it aiJfX(tiatcly paved but
nevertheless of great .servict*. Petroleum
apparently doea not ocscur in krge qtiait ti-
tles, and the costs of imporied aiiiouiobiles
and fuel make private oum probibitivdy
exjienstve.

(herland travel lias lieen eonfiiied In
cart mails and flagstone trails, rott||llb^
characteristic of the North and Iba Soitlb#
rcsiK^ctively. Two-wheelcfl sprini^ calls

The Chineee Landscape

IUi1w«y <kirel«>|Hiiefit b ltiiiit«d to mwUsm CliiiiJi. The Ime* thiit ni4mtc from Pektuf Mmt liiiilt ttnilrr
fS0ven»mtni tii0iieiic« tlie wm» in the north, while Uwww in Mamc^hurb were throuith

the initiative ol Kii^bn, ia|iatieM% aiMl Chineiie itiiereaU. Double-tracked railwaya are fthown in a thkk Itiie.
Three highwaja link CTiina with the outer woria: throng Outer Mungolia, through Sitikiaiig, and to fliin»a.
The exienaive net of autmnoliile road* b not abowu.

CommunicatioTis

with narrow iron-studded wheels grind
the earth into dusty ruts in the dry season
and chum it into deep mud after the rains.
Under such conditions one does not travel
for pleasure. Sedan chairs are scarcely more
comfortable. Where animals are not avail-
able* long lines of coolies carry salt, tea,
cloth, or kerosene.

Since the means of travel are slow and
inefficient, commerce requires an abnor-
mally large numlier of people. Where man
is so numerous and lives so close to the
minimum, coolie carriers work for a

pittance. It is thus cheaper to wear men
down than to keep roads up. Such is the
value of human life where man overcrowds
the land.

Great credit must be given to the Post
Office. Couriers travel day and night, and
the service has been remarkably dependable
despite war and other interruptions.

It is notable that each of the cities with
over a million people is a seaport, except
Peiping and Mukden, and that all of the
major inland cities are large almost in
proportion to their transportation facilities.

52 China's Physical Environment

higher mountains. In place of ice, the Desert. Local deposits have their source
geological record closes with widespread in river flocwl plains, as along the Yangtze
dust deposits, the famous loess. Deposits near Nanking and in Szechwan. Dust

Along the border l»eiween Korea and China (ien a litUe-known volcano with n crater lake, kntiwii in i*Ktnr«e ai
Paitou Shan and in Korean aa Hakuto San- (Coytirgif Sank ( kina Dat/g Stws.)

of this wind-blown silt exceed 100,000 storms texlay indicate that accumulation is
square miles south of the Great Wall, still under way.

plus other areas in Sinkiang. Over extensive The only art^a of recent volcanic activity
areas the thickness exceeds 100 feet, so is along the Korean border where there is
that the original bedrock topography is a large crater lake at the summit of Paitou
buried; locally the thickness may reach Shan.

SOO fee#

Most loess occurs in the semiarid grass- Patterns

lands of northwest China. The bulk of the

material is derived from river and lake All of China's great rivers flow eastward
deposits of the Hwang River spread out to the Pacific. ILiwcver, more than a
in the Ordos Desert, with leaser amounts as million square milen in Mongolia and Tibet
the product of weathering in the Gobi is without drainage to the sea.

Surface Configuration

The Heilung Kiang or Amur River
together with its tributary the Ussuri forms
the northern and eastern boundaries of
Manchuria next to Siberia. The chief
tributary within China iif the Sungari. Each
of these is navigable for river steamers.
The Liao Ho drains southern Manchuria.

The Hai Ho or Pei Ho empties into the
Gulf of Chihli 40 miles below Tientsin,
w'here it is formed by the confluence of
several tributaries, chief of which is the
Yungting or Hun Ho.

The great river of Xorth China is the
Hwang Ho or Yellow River, 2,700 miles in
length. As it enters the province of Kansu
from Tibet, the Hwang is a torrential
stream 75 yard.H wnde, across which fragile
ferryboats maneuver with the greatest
difficulty. Where it crosses the Great Wall
for its swing northward to Mongolia, the
river widens to half a mile and has a gentle
cummt and numerous sand bars. The
Hwang's chief tributaries are the Fen Ho
in Shansi and the Wei Ho, classical river
of Chinese history, which flows across
Shensi. After the river enters its delta,
the Yellow Plain, the average slope is one
foot |>er mile, but it is so overloaded with
loessial silt that extensive deposition fol-
lows. Since this accumulation is confined
between dikes, the bed of the river in many
places has come to be above the level of the
siiiTounding countryside .so that the Hwang
River flows on an artificial ridge. Xo part
of the river is navigable for steamships.
Retween 1191 and 1852 it entered the ocean
south of Shantung, but in 1852 its ctnirse
was diverted 250 miles to the north. Dur-
ing the Japanese invasion of 1988, the
ChinefMj cut the dikes west of Kaifeng,
turning the stream across the path of tlie
advancing Japanese into an old channel
which continues southward to the Hwai Ho.

The Hwai is the largest river between
the Hwang and the Yangtae, draining the
southern margin of the Yellow Main. When

the Hwang River followed a southerly
course prior to 1852, it usurped the channel
of the Hwai and deposited so much sedi-
ment that the latter was no longer able to
follow its natural course to the sea. As a
result, the stream discharges into a series
of fluctuating lakes in northern Kiangsu.
In time of flood these enlarge and spread
over thousands of square miles. A part of
the water from the combined Hwang and
Hwai now follows the Grand Canal south
to the Yangtze, another portion flow's east-
ward to the sea through an artificial channel.

The Yangtze Kiang, 3,200 miles in
length, is the sixth longest river in the
w’orld and by far the most important water-
way in China. Xavigation extends to
Pingshan near Suifu in western Szechwan,
1,680 miles from the sea. In the Yangtze
gorges the current reaches 14 knots and
makes this section one of the most diflScult
stretches of river navigation in the warld.
Ten-thousand-ton ocean steamships reach
Hankow during the summer, 680 miles
from the sea. The chief tributaries are the
Min Kiang in Szechwan, the Han Kiang
w’hich gives its name to Hankow% and tw’o
large tributaries from the south, the Siang
and Kan. These latter flow through the
Tungting and Poyang Lakes w^hich serve
as storage reservoirs for the suiplus flood
waters of the Yangtze. The delta around
Shanghai is interlaced by a network of
canals; deposition is pushing the land sea-
ward at the rate of one mile in 70 years.

In southern China three rivers converge
u{X)n the Canton Delta: the Tung Kiang
or East River, Pei Kiang or North River,
and the more important Si Kiang or West
River. The latter is readily navigable for
river steamers as far as Wuchow in
Kwangsi, 200 miles inland.

Surface Configuratum

Topography sets the stage on which
the Chinese drama unfolds but, for much

China’s Physical Environment

In tittaitfn ('binm, wherr mcMit fjf the live, level Intid t« Hnitted Ui the Mllmriiil fdasfie «jI the Ilwnim

mid Yanftse. Roiling eimtoniit pkios are preemt in Maochurie and the ark! Gobi. Hotith China b hiffell' *
land of hiUa. Bugged tnciuntainji enrwrle Tiliet, while more gently »Uiptng tmmotaiuft are wtiiely urattered.

Surface Configuration

of China, slopes are so steep Uiat normal
agriculture is impossible. Wherever there
is level land, no matter how inaccessible,
it is used as intensively as climate permits.

Large areas are not properly mapped,
and in many areas land form analysis rests
on the accounts of chance travelers. Ex-
tensive plains are found only in the deltas
of the Yangtze^ arid Hwang, the rplling
lowland of ct^ntral Manchuria, and the
<lesc*rts of Mongolia and Sinkiang. Level
land may represent no more than one-fifth
of the total area.

Diverse mountain structures and ero-
siorial history <livide ('hina into 11 topo-
graphic regions and (50 subregions.

Land Fokm Hkoions of China
.4. Tibetan lIiKhlamb

1. Patiiir^

Thr Himalaya
S. Karakorum MountuiiH

4. Interior Tilietaii iiiountjiiiiA uiul ImHtaH

5. Allyn Tagit Nan Shan Uatiges
S. Ktien I.un liange

7. Taaidam Koko Nor liiLHiriH
H. i.anci of the (irral (‘orrcwioiw (Kain)

9. (ircat Snowy Mountains (Sxechwart Alpa)
e. Tirfi Shan liighiandi>

10. Tien Shan Kange

11. Dsuiiirarinn Alatau Mountaio^

12. Dogda (Ha Mountniiijs
IS. Kuruk Tagh llilU

C. Altai'Sayan lligliiaiiilH

14. Tarhagntai Mountuin^i

15. Altai Mountains

HI. Taitnu Ola MountaiiiH

17. Khangai Mountains

IK. Krtitai llilb

19. Tantiti Tit%'a llilh

to. Kaatrm Sayan Mountain!*

/>. Mongolian ' Sinkiang rplantlA
tl. (««»bi Plain
tt. Ortloi Plain
tS. Valley of the l4iketk
t4. Dauogariaii Plain
*5. Tarim PUin
f'. Mongidian tlorcler Tptanda
id. Cireai Kbingan Mountain»
t7. leliol Mountaina
tCl. Tadiiiiit— In Mounlatnai
19. Holan Mountaint (Ala Shan)

so. Loesfl Hill*

SI. Liupan Mountsiiia
St. Shanat Mountains

a. Taihang Mountains

b. Wutai Shan

8S. Sheniit — Shansi Plains (Wei — Fen)

F. Eastern Uplands

S4. East Manchurian Hills
35. Long White Mountains
SO. Little Khingan Hills

57. Shantung Hills
a. Tai Shan

U. Eastern Lowlands

58. Amur — Ussuri River Plains

59. Manchurian Plain (Liao — Sungari)

40. Yellow Plain (Hwang)

41. Yangtze Della Plain

42. Mid-Yangtze Lake Plains (Poyang — Tung-
ting)

43. Han River Plain
//. Ontral l'pland.H

44. Tsingling Range

45. Tapa Mountains

46. (Jorge Mountains

47. Tape! Hilts (Hwaiyang)

/. Szechw'an Ix>w'land

48. R(xi Basin Hills

49. ( heiigtu Plain

J. Smthern Uplands

50. South Ynngtw Hills

51. Wuyi — Tayu Mountains

52. .N'anliiig Mountains

53. Southeastern hills and deltas

54. Canton Delta Plain

55. Ea.st-Norlh-We,st River Hills (Tung. Pei, Si)

56. Luichow^ — Hainan Plain

57. Hainan Mountain.s

K. Southwestern Uplands

58. Kweichow’ Hills

59. Yunnan Plateau

60. Kunming Plain

.1. The Tibetan Highlands comprise a
rim of lofty mountains and an enclosed
plateau-basin, much of it without external
drainage. In the far west is the mountain
core of the Pamirs, from which radiate most
of the great ranges of Asia. The Himalayan
system extends in an arc for 1,500 miles and
is made up of three ranges. Fifty summits
exceed £5,000 feet in The Himalaya and
the Karakorum, of which only Kamei and
Nanda Devi have been climbed. Mt.

China s Physical Enmronmmt

Everest, 29,141 feel high, lies on the bortler
between Tibet and Nej>al.

Within Farther Tibet is a series of moun-
tains and basins* In the south is the valley
of the Tsang Po, the local name for the
Brahmaputra, with the city of Lhasa and
the only cultivatetl part of Tibet. To the
north is the Nyenchen Tang La or Trans-
Himalaya liaiige which in turn forms the
southern l>oundary of the Chang Tang
plains and mountains. This is an area of
desert playas and massive mountains, all at
elevations over 16,000 feet, lliere are many
lakes, both fresh and salt, of which the
largest is Tengri Xor.

Northeni Til)et has two great ranges, the
Altyn Tagh and Nan Shan system, as a
rani|)art overlooking Sinkiang and Mon-
golia, and tile Kuen Lun farther south.
Both have numerous {>eaks of 20,000 feet.
Between them are the enclosed basins of
the Tsaidam and Koko Nor (Ching Hai)
at elevations of 9,000 and 10,500 ft^et, re-
spectively. Koko Nor is the largest lake in
Til>et,

East<*m Tibet, east of 95®E., is a land of
great canyons and interx eniiig high ranges,
with a general northwest to southeast orien-
tation. This area is known to the Til>etans
as Kam, or as the l.«aiid of the fmat Cor-
rosions. Here flow the Hwang, V’angtjM*,
Mekong, and Salw’een. Part of this area lies
in Nearer TiWt within the new provinces
of Sikang and Chinghai, but the |K>litical
boundary is vague. The easternmost moun-
tains, bortlering Szechwan and Yunnan,
are the Tahstieh Shan or (ireat Snowy
Mountains. The highest jK^ak is Minya
Gongkar, 25,200 feet, climbed by a jmrty
of Harvard students in 1932.

B, The Tien Shan Highlands lie in
Sinkiang between the Tarim and Dzun-
garian basins. The Tien Shan or Heavenly
Range extends into Soviet Middle Asia to
join the Pamirs. It has a length of 1,000
miles in China, with peaks over 20,000 feet.

The northernmost component is the Dzun-
garian Alatau. In the east, the main range
is the Bogdo Ola, while in the southeast are
the Kuruk Tagh Hills.

C. The Altai-Sayan Highlands include
the mountain complex along the frontier
between northwestern Mongolia and the
Soviet Union. The Altai Mountains are a
long, narrow, and steep-sided range, largely
barren. The highest elevations are in the
west. North of them, the Tannu Ola Moun-
tains form tlic southern rim of Tannu Tuva,
whose northeni limit next to Siberia lies
along the Sayan Mountains. The Khangai
Mountains and the Kcmtai Hills, on either
side of the Sidenga Valley, differ chiefly in
altitude; each is an irregularly dissecttMl
upland rather than a linear range.

D. The Mongolian — Sinkiang Uplands
cover a million sipiare miles in Inner and
Outer Mongolia, and in the Dzungartan
and Tarim iHisins of Sinkiang. The largest
subregion is the (loln Plain, which occupies
a broa<l Imsinlike depression, approached
over a mountain rim from every siilc. I^>ng
erosion has worn anrient mountains to a
featureless (M'lieplain, subse<|uently warped
to form numerous shallow' l>asiiis which are
now' fillcHl with younger se<limeiits. These
in turn are jmrtly exaivatetl by wiinl work.
Monotonous desert plains corititiue for
hundreds of miles, often so flat that one
may drive an autfimcdhle in any direction.
Within the Gobi Plain are several major
depressions or tala. Iti the tiortheast is the
Dalai tala, in the center is the Iren tala,
while in the souihw'est is the Gashuin tala.
The Ortios I’lain lies within the Imip of the
Hwang River. North westeni Mongolia in*
eludes an extensiofi of The Gobi known as
the Valley of the I^kes. which lies between
the Alui and the Tannu (Mm. The D»un-
garian I*laifi is a lowland mrridor ffom
Mongolia to Soviet Middle Asia biHweeii
the Altai and the Tien Shan. Farilier aotiih*
the Tarim Basin lies Wtwetm the Tien Shan

Surface Configuration

and the Altyn Tagh ; this is the Takla-makan
Desert, the driest area in Asia.

E, The Mongolian Border Uplands lie
between The Gobi and the lowland plains
of eastern China, and extend in an arc from
Kansu to Heilungkiang. The northernmost
subregion, the Great Khingan Mountains,
is the upturned edge of the Mongolian
Upland. From the east these appear as high
disseetcHl mountains; seem from the west
they are merely low hills. Toward the south,
the Great Khingan bcHHjme lower and there
is an easy passage to Mongolia. Most of
the province* of Jehol is a hill and moun-
tain land with conspicuously steep soilless
slojM's. Elevations reach 5,000 feet. To the
west of the Jehol Mountains is a series of
low mountains along the southern margin
of the Mongolian ITplands. These are col-
lc*<*tively known as the Taching and In
Mountains. Although barren and rocky,
tlieir elevations are not great. Since the
range is tu»i c‘ontinuous, there are several
gateways to The (iobi. To the west of the
Hwang River are the 10,000~f(M>t Holan
Mountains, often known as the Ala
Shan.

The largest fwirt of the Mongolian Bonier
Ufiland i.s made up of the l»ess Hills, a
region where line silt, l)lown outwartl from
the Ordos Plain, has foriiuMl a v'enwr over
the entire landscaf>e. Two mountain areas
rtM! above the loess, the Liupan Mountains
in Kansu and the Shansi Mountains farther
east. Two portions of the latter deserve
s|H*cial names, the Taihang next to the
Yellow Plain in M>utheni Shansi, and the
Wutai farther north. Within the Ixiess Hills
is a S€*rieii of alluvial basiiKs known as the
Shensi -Shansi Plains. The most important
of these is drained by the Wei River and
domiiiateti by Uie historic city of Sian. The
mxmd is that along the Fen River in Shansi
where there are areas of alluvium around
Taiyuan as well as near the moutli. The
plains of the Wei and Fen lie in a structural

graben which reappears farther north to
form the plain around the city of Tatung.

F. The Eastern Highlands extend from
Shantung to Heilungkiang. In the latter
province and in Kirin are the East Man-
churian Hills, a rounded and forested region
with only pioneer agricultural settlement.
The highest portion of this region, along
the Korean frontier, has the name of the
Changpai Shan or Long White Mountains.
The Little Khingan Hills lie south of the
.\mur River and may be placed either in
this region or with the preceding one. The
Shantung Hills were formerly an island in
the Yellow Sea but are now^ half surrounded
by the encroaching delta of the Hwang
River. An important corridor north of
Tsingtao divides the region into two sub-
divisions and provides an avenue for the
railway to Tsinan. The highest point is the
sacrcnl peak of Tai Shan, 5,056 feet, made
famous by Confucius.

G, The Eastern Lowlands include by far
the larger part of China’s level land which
ha.H adequate rainfall for agricultural settle-
ment. In the far north the Amur-Ussuri
Plains, largely within Soviet Siberia, pro-
vide flat land along the respective rivers.
There are considerable areas of swamp, and
part of the area is underlain by perma-
nently frozen subsoil. The Manchurian
Plain, largely the result of erOsSion, covers
137,000 square miles in the provinces of
Heilungkiang, Liaoning, and Kirin. The
northern portion is drained by the Sungari
River while in the south there is the Liao
Ho. The Manchurian Plain is surrounded
by hills with only three lowland gateways.
One of these is to the northwest along the
narrow valley of the Sungari. The second is
a broad saddle in the southern Great
Khingan near the upper sources of the Liao,
leading to Mongolia. The third and most
important is the narrow coastal plain at
Shanhaikwan where the Jehol Mountains
almost reach the Gulf of Chihli. This point.

China’s Physical Environment

where the Gre«t Wall reaches the sea. The YangUe Delta Plain merges imper-
has been the scene of repeated Manchu ceptibly with the Yellow Plain in northern
invasions. Kiangsu. Important climatic, soil, and crop

Rowf of KurroiiiKi niAiiy Innplr rotirtyardU in tlie mountams of i'hinii. Thin nkcrnr U from thr CKim Slum

in Maoeiiarta. (A fa.)

The Yellow Plain is the large^it alluvial hounflarie?< mark the tranmtiori along the
area in China, covering 1^,000 nqiiare line of the Ilwai River. Ciilike the clelta of
milea. Tliin remarkably flat plain i» the the Hwang, the lower Vangtr^* Plain h cut
compound delta of the Hw'ang an<l other by innumeruble caitab. Shanghai, Ilang-
streamii that flow out of the encircling hill«, chow, and \ankiiig are the priiid|Mii eitieis.
Wideapread Amais have reaultcnl frrim the The Mid-\'angty 4 > Ijike Plarim aiimmtid
breaking of the dikea. (>n account of fKK»r numeroiiH lakea. c!hfef of which are the
drainage and the high water table, exten- l*oyang ami Tungting. rnlike the flat
aive areaa have iialty soil. All of the region dtdta, thi« region it atiiddt*<i with hiw rocky
k Mow 500 feet elevation. Peiping lies at hills. Xorthwesl of Hankow is a nearly cn*
the northern margin of the plain in closer close<] alluvial area drained by the Han
proximity to two important gateways Kiver and termed the Han Plain,
through the Great Wall, Xankou and //. Pbe C*efitral ( *piatidsarea ifiur of the
Kupeikou passes, and not far fnim the Tibetan Higbtands which eoniinue Uie
e€|uatly important eomdor at Shanhaikwan. ICuen Gun strueiureii eastward to the vi**

Surface Configuration

cinity of Nanking. Elevations decrease from
20,000 feet in the west to mere hills in the
east where the Uplands disappear beneath
coastal alluvium. The Tsingling Range is
the greatest mountain system of eastern
China and forms a lofty and rugged barrier
from Kansu to Honan. South of Sian fieaks
r4‘ach 12,000 fwt in elevation. The Tsingling
are a series of parallel ridges, all trending a
little south of east, with canyons whos<*
walls often rise sheer to a height of 1,000
f€»et almve the streams. The eastern exten-
.sion of the range is known as the Sung Shan
and the Funiu Shan. These mountains are
an effective barrier to monsoon rainfall from
the south ami starve tf> <lefine the most
im|Kirtant gcMigrafdiie iKUuidary of the
country. On one side is the dry, brown,
dust -blown wheat country of the north
while on the other are the green, humid,
riccdaiids of (lie south. I'hese imiuntains
have also Ix^en of jKilitical signifieaiiee, for
in 1H(K) lh<*y prevented the Taifiing relwls
fn»m coming north, and in 1875 they simi-
larly limitcHl the southward advance of the
Mohammedan Uelndlion. The 'rsingling lie
north of the I Ian River, whose valley hK'ally
widens to a plain. 'I'o the .s<iuth are the
slightly lower Tiipa Mountains, als4> with
mi east- west trend. 'I'liese join the (iorge
MountainH, so naiiusl from their ilevelop-
iiienl across the Yangtze River ai>ove
lehang. I'lie easternimist exteri.sion of the
Central Uplands is variously known as the
Ta|H’i Hills or the Hwaiyang Hills, Eleva-
tions here art* largely under 8,000 ft*!*!, and
the whole chanicter of the physical land-
seatH* is more gentle wdth rounded moun-
laiiis and o|h*ii valleys.

/. The Sitechwan l.«owland is an island
in the heart of west i'hina. Mo.st of it is
known as the Rtni Basin Hills, fmm the red
or pur})lish color of the underlying sand-
stones, IlilltofMi rise to 8,000 or 4,000 feet,
with valley bottoms at half these elevation.s.
(Chungking dominates this ihomughly hilly

region. The Chengtu Plain is a small but
intensively utilized alluvial fan along the
western margin of the Szechwan Lowland,
next to the Great Snowy Mountains.

J, The Southern Uplands include a large
area of southern China. Level land is
nowhere more than a few miles in extent,
and hills or mountains are always in sight.
In the region as a whole, flat areas cover
less than 15 per cent and are largely con-
fine<l to fl(K)d plains. The South Yangtze
Hills lie in Hunan, Kiangsi, Chekiang, and
•southern Anhw^ei, largely within the drain-
age basin of the Yangtze River. Numerous
valleys lead into the area from the Mid-
Yanglzt* l^ke Plains. To the east are the
W uyi and Tayu niountain.s, w^hile on the
south are the Nanling Mountains. These
have trends parallel to the cf>ast, with peaks
that rise to 6,C)00 feet. North of Canton are
tw^o famous passes across the Nanling. The
first is the old impc*rial highway to Nan-
chang by way of the Meiling Pass. The
second lea<ls to ('hangsha over the Cheling
Pass, and is the route of the Canton-
llankow* Railway. The hinterland of Canton
is draiiunl by the East, North, and West
Rivers wdiioh give their name to an area of
hills and seattere<i alluvial hasin.s between
the Xaiiling and the sea. The.se rivers have
formwl the com^nmnd Canton Delta Plain.
In western and northern Kwaiigsi, in
Yunnan, ami in Kw’eichow are remarkable
areas of almost vertical-sided hills of lime-
stone, rt*prt*seiitiiig an advanc€?<l stage of
solution or karst topography. In southern
Kwangtung is the Luiehow Peninsula, a
rolling plain linked wnlh that in the north-
ern part of Hainan Island. Hainan itself is
largely mountainous, witli elevations to
over a mile.

K, The' Southwestern Uplands lie in
Kweichow and Yunnan. These uplands are
a suh<lued continuation of the Tibetan
Highlands, with plateau remnants cut by
deep valleys and crossed by rugged moun-

Chifia's Physical Environment

tains. The only pari of the region which is
level is the Kunming Plain where there are
several lake basins. Dissection has been
most extensive in the Kweichow Hills,
where many rivers flow in valleys !2,000 feet
in depth. Elevations in the Yunnan Plateau
average 6,000 feet, while the Kweichow
Hills arc about 4,000 feet. Level land proba-
bly amounts to less than 5 per cent of the
entire region.

Within the province of Yunnan, plateau
characteristics are found cast of the Red
River and the city of Tali, and south of the
YangUse River. North westeni Yunnan lies
in the Great Snowy Mountains while the
southwest is part of the Shan Plateau along
the border of Burma.

Climate

The Chinese live close to nature and are
thus vitally dependent upon the weather.
Climatic averages seldom tell the whole
story, for rain often comes t(K> early or too
late, or in exceptional amounts. FIckkI and
drought are equally serious. Honan has re-
ceived 18 inches in a day, while a Kwangst
station with a yearly average of 50 inchc's
once dropped to 8 inches for months.
Mountains exposed to tjT>hoons from the
South China Sea receive around 100 inches,
while the Tarim Basin is nearly rainless.

In North China, June is the critical
month for summer planting, hut a Tientsin
June rainfall of over eight inches in two
fiU€!Cesstve years, three times the average,
was preceded and followetl by years with
half an inch in the same month. The re-
sulting crop uncertainties are esfx?cially
serious in a land as crowded as this.

China lies on the east coast of the largest
continent and thus has a seasonal monsoon
tendency. As a result of its locathin, the
dimaie is alternately continental and Asi-
atic in winter, and maritime or Pacific in
summer. On this monsoon circulation are
superimposed air mass movements, cyclonic

storms, and typhoons. Unlike India, where
summer w^ith its in blowing air is the domi-
nant periml, winter continental winds pro-
vide the most ptiwerful circulation in China.
Thus souUiern China has unusually cool
winters for its latitude.

Like the United States, China is a ctwitest
sone for invading air masses from polar and
tropical latitudes, with fre<juent weather
changes as one or the other becomes
dominant.

Cold dr>’ air masses push into China dur-
ing all months except July, to a total of
^ a year. IMariy of these first appear in the
Arctic near Nova Zenilya. After crossing
Soviet Middle Asia they enter China via
Dzungaria and Mongvilta and crime to the
Wei Valley where the Tsingling Mountains
protect Szechwan. The air masses are then
tunied east wan! to the Yellow Plain and
continue southwarti along the coast. Since
the advancing wiHlge of a cold wave is less
than 1,000 fwt thick, it is stopped by
motlerate relief, hut farther hack fnini the
front the thieknes-s of the air mass increases
to a mile so that (*o]fl air may overtop jieaks
such as Tai Shan in Shantung.

Thes<* cold waves travel from Dzungaria
to the soiitiiern exlreiiiity of (.*hina in alioui
a week. Their rt*fleets temf>eniture

contrasts, which art* most pnuiouncf^d in
winter. .Vcriis?* Mongfdia the average veloc-
ity is hut 5 miles jar hour, in the Yellow
i^laiii it reaches 80 miles, amJ over tlic
central Y angtze* tiie wind htow's as much
as 60 miles fwr hour. This dimifikhci to
5 inileh jM‘r hour ahuig the souiheni coast.
A few cold waves ermie into China front
eastern Sila-rin and Matichtiria; if they paas
over tlie S«fa of Ja]>ati en route, they ae<niire
a limiUsi amount of moisture.

In their source an as IkiUi air mmMmm arc
dry hut, as the wavers advance, evaporation
from the ground a«lds s#>nie inoistitrc to the
lower layers, so that only Mocltfied Polar
Continental air ntassrs reach China, Diiit

Climate

stonns rather than rainfall are brought by
these winds. Such dust clouds are common
throughout North China during winter
months. Visibility is notably reduced, and
impalpable dust finds its way even into
closed rooms.

Where a cold front encounters moist
tropical air, the latter is lifted and precipi-
tation results. This wedge action accounts
for three-quarters of China’s rainfall and
operates at all seiisons.

Southern air masses invade China
throughout the year from both the South
China Sea and the Southwestern Uplands.
The numl)er and strength are less than
those from the north. They are often altered
in their passage over southern and eastern
China m that the air that reaches the
Yangtze Valley is characteristically known
as !VIodifi€Hi Tropical Marine or Conti-
nental air. Occasional winter outbursts of
Polar air reach the equator, but South China
is so well pn»U?clcHl by the Tsingling Range
that Tnipical Marine winds are inqxjrtant
even in mid-w*inler.

During stirnmer months, China is bathed
by reixatfHl invasions of hot humid air from
the ocean, which push as far as Mongolia.
Since this air is light and buoyant, it easily
passers over the Southern Uplands, and
equally ovi^rrides any cold air masses in its
imtii. As the Tropical Maritime air rises, it
is cfKiled and rain falls. Without the lifting
and cooling action of mountains or a cold
front. Tropical air masses yield no rain
even though their relative humidity is high.

The summer monsexm is tlius the time
when successive Tropical air masses are
strong enough to push back the Polar air
and shift tJbc front to nortlieni China.
There is no continuous seasonal monsoon
wind. Although tliere is an obvious correla-
tion between the period of maximum rain-
fall and the time of the summer monsoon,
rain seldom occurs with stitmg southerly
winds. IVhen they blow constantly, drought

may even follow. Rain occurs principally
when there is a northerly wind at the sur-
face to underrun and lift the southeast
monsoon sufficiently high to cool it and
cause condensation.

Cyclonic or anticyclonic storms and
typhoons introduce further variability.
When the knowledge of Chinese meteorol-
ogy was limited to stations along the coast,
it was assumed that few cyclonic storms
crossed Asia; this is now known to be in-
correct. Observations in the Soviet Union
and interior China show that numerous
highs and lows from Europe cross Siberia
and Mongolia to enter northern China on
their wa,y to Japan and Alaska. Others,
esf>ecially in winter, follow a route from
Europe south of Tibet into southern China.
Still others may originate in the interior,
especially in the upper Yangtze Valley,
by the interaction of opposing warm- and
cold-air masses. From 19^1 to 1930, there
were, on an average, 84 cyclonic storms per
year. The cyclones of China have an aver-
age diameter along the major axis of 905
miles and are thus considerably smaller
than those of the United States whose
corresponding dimensions are 1,550 miles.
Although their individual extent is limited,
they follow^ various paths so that almost
all of China feels their effect at one time
or another.

The cyclonic storms of China may be
grouped according to their paths into six
types. One appears from Siberia and moves
southeastward across southern Manchuria.
Many of these storms are known to come
from Eiinipe. Two Noilh China types first
appear in the vicinity of the Ordos Desert
and move either eastward across southern
Manchuria or southward to the mouth of
the Yangtze. Three types pass down the
Yangtze Valley; the more important trav-
erse the provinces just south of the river
from Kweichow and Hunan. Two other
ty(>es are known as the Easiera Sea and

China s Physical Environment

Northeastern types from their place of
occurrence. The numerical importance of
lows along these various paths from 19S1
to 1930 is as follows: Siberian type* 181;
North China types, 1265; Yangtze types,
1277; Eastern Sea typt‘, 71; and North-
easteni tj*pe, 47.

Where the direction of the cyclonic
counterclockwise circnilation coincidc^s with
the nionswKm gradient, the resulting wind
is intensifiecl. Thus, winds on the back side
of a low reinforce the i^'inter monsoon
invasion, producing unusually strong north-
west winds. Since cyclonic storms are fewer
and less develo|>ed during the summer, and
iiiv*ading Tropical air moves more slowly
than Polar air masses, the coincidence of
southerly suninuT wiiuls gives lower veloci-
ties. Nevertheless great quantities of nioi.st
marine air are drawn into China, and heavy
precipitation frtH|uently results. During the
19S5 floo<is, low firessiire areas fn>m Indo-
China slagnatcsl over the Han \*alley and
brought 14 cubic miles of rain in six days.

The typhoons of the westeni Pacific
originate east of the Philippine Islands in
the vicinity of the Marshall and (amlinc
groups along the equatorial front where
Tropical air uinlerciits unstable Equatorial
air and thus releases the large anumnts of
energy iiee<i€*d for tjqihoons. They move
west and then northeast, either striking
the southeastern coast of C'hina or recurv-
ing toward Japan Indore reach iiig the main-
land. When they occasionally recurs^e after
entering the continent, they travel tw^ice as
fast as when moving westward and, after
reaching the ocean, their iiitenstty is greatly
increased. Since typhoons follow' more or
h!ss regular paths, it is often [mssiblc to
pre^het something of their movement and
issue appropriate warnings to shipping.
Betw'een 1893 and 19St4 there were 126S
typhoons in the vicinity of China, or an
average of 8.5 ptjr year.

No part of the year is entirely free from

typhoons, but they are especially abundant
during the late summer. Typh<K>ns visit
Kwangtung during May* but by June the
track of most storms has moved northward
to Formosa. July and August art*- the most
destructive months along the central coast,
and by Octolxjr the increasing pressure of
the 8il>erian high af){>ears to be sufficient
to keep typhcK)ns away from the continent.

T\q>htx>ns always have a succession of
heavy rain squalls. The w'iiui blows w'ith
velocities up to 150 miles |H*r hour and
carries the rain horizontally with such
violence that severe damage is often done
to ship.s and coastal <lislricts. Pressures
against vertical surfact»s reach 1(K) |H>unds
per .square find. Much <if the summer rain-
fall of the southeastern provinces is derived
from these tnipical stonn.s, in contrast to
the gentle .spring rains w hich are associattsl
w'ith cyclonic areas.

Seasons are well differentiattsl. Winter
teinfierature.s show great c*<»ntrast with
latitinie, for the January average in north-
ern Manchuria is — i;CF. as compare<l with
in Hainan in the south. During July,
U*mp€!ratun*s are more unifomi and the.s€‘
extreme IcK'^atioiis average 70®F, and 84® F.,
re,spectively. Summer.s eveiy'-where have
oppressive heat and humidity. Peiping
regidarly exjHTiences tem}K*ratun*H over
100°F., and may even Ik? warmer than
Shanghai or ( anton. The duration of the?
wann |K*ricKi inen^ases .Hoiithwarfi so that
in Canton Euro|K‘aiis W'ear white clothing
for II months.

Haitifall show's even greater regional con-
trasts and is the major iU?m in di(fert?ii-
tiating North ("hina and S^mth ('hiita.
South of the Tsiiigliiig liarrier which lies
midway Wtween the Hw'ang and Yangtze
rivers, rainfall is from 40 to 75 inches; to
the north it rangers frcjm 125 inches in the
Yellow Plain to less than 10 inches outside
the Great Wall. In North China rainfall
occurs exclusively during the summer, and

Climate

winters have bright sunshine; in South
China summer is also the wet season but
all months have some rain.

Contrasting climates divide China into
seven regions, each with its regime of rain-
fall and temperature. The Koeppen classi-
fication does not give meaningful boundaries
in this part of Asia, and the following
regions are based on the work of Chu and
Tu.*

C'limatic Rbgio.vs or CumA

A. Mongolian t.vfx*

1. DcjmtI

4. DtiM’rt-.Hifppt'

il. l*a#»ltire-H!pp[M’

4. Agrirulturt*-»tleppe

5. Ikirpal (‘liinate of the inountAinji
fi, Manchurian tyfa*

0. Khingan Mtmntainfi

7. Manchurian Plain

8. Kaat Manchuriiin Hilla
North China type

9. (ireat Plain

10. I>0<»AJ( IlilliK

11. Jehol Mountains ,

D. Central ('hina type

It. lA>iicr Van0iu* Plain

13. Mid-Vangtic Plain

14. Sx^hwan llaain
14. (iulf of ilaiigch<»w

E. S«»uth China ly|>e

16. Southeastern Coaat

17. Si Kiang Valley
IH. Haitmti

F. Weal (*hina type

19. Taingling RangeN
to. Sikang Mountains
tl. Southweatern Cplands
0, Tibetan type

tt. Northern Tibet
tS. South went ern Tibet
94. Koko Nor
«5. H«>utbeaat Tibet

A, Mongolia and Stnkiang have an arid
and semiarid climate, witli less than 10
inches of rainfall and long severe winters.

* Tv, ('SASO-WANO, Cltmatic IVovinccii of Chma,
JommtU, Cfcsigniphkal Bes^iety of China 111, no. 3
(Befttrmber, 1936), in ('htneae with Rnflish abatmcl.

The steppe type is subdivided on the basis
of local variations in moisture. Koeppen
maps classify the area as BW (desert) or
BS (steppe), with the mountains of the
northwest as Dwc.

B. Manchuria forms another unit, sub-
divided by its three topographic regions.
Five months have averages below freezing,
and the growing season is under 150 days.
The rainfall decreases from 40 inches in the
east to 15 inches in the west. In Koeppen
symbols, it has a Dwb climate.

C, The North China climatic regions
include the Great Plain of the Hwang,
the Loess Hills, and the Jehol Mountains,
each with many similarities to Mongolia.
The rainfall average is 25 inches or le.ss but
varies widely. Winters are dry, and crops
can grow for more than 240 days. This
region extends south to the Tsingling
Ilange and the Hwai Valley. Koeppen
symbols are less satisfactory here, for they
destroy the regional unity by breaking it
up into Dw and Cir.

/). The Yangtze Valley is calied the
C'entral China tyfie. It has 40 to 60 inches
of rainfall and a gnawing .season of 300
days. Conditions somewhat resemble the
southeastern L'nited States, where the
Koeppen symbols are C/a; farther inland
in China, winter drought changes the
letters to Cw,

E. The South China type covers the
West River Basin and the coastal areas
on either side of the Tropic of Cancer.
Even in the coldest month temperature
averages are above 50®F, so that the growl-
ing season is nearly a year long. Rainfall
exceeds 80 inches on expose<l mountain
.slopes. Although Koeppen groups this with
Shantung as Tie, the higher rainfall and
the alisence of a severe winter in the south
make conditions quite distinct.

F. Between the lowlands of the Yangtze
Valley and the Tibetan Highlands is the
West China climatic tyfie, all of it at con-

Chinas Physical Enmrmment

^iderabie elevation. The wide ranges in are the Great Snowy Mountains; while in
latitude and altitude prevent much unity, the southwest is the Yunnan Plateau.

The Tsingling is the major dividing range 0, Tibetan climates cover the highland.

Korppen «yinboU.

between humid and semiand China; along with a seiiarale divimon for Uie vicinity of
the borders of Tibet in Sikang province Lhasa where mild temperatureM and heavy

Natural Vegetation

precipitation produce a Koeppen Cw cli-
mate in contrast to ET elsewhere.

Natural Vegetation

There are few areas in China where the
original cover of natural vegetation is still
preserved. For the most part these are in
localities where climate* as in the desert, or
tofK)graphy, as in ruggwl mountains, pro-
vides barriers to agricultural operations.
Such areas are restricttnl to the steppe
and desert vegetation of Mongolia, Sin-
kiang, ami TilnH, to S4>me of the forest
regions and dry grasslaiuis of Manchuria,
and to relatively small forested areas in the
mountains of central and southern China.

Villages and farmsteads are usually sur-
rounded by plante<l trees even in the dry
north. Farm wockI lots are entirely absent
on the cultivated plains, so that forests are
restricted to hillsides too steep for other
crops.

The (K)pular conct^ption of C'hina as a
cieforeslcHl lantl is only partly correct.
.S<iuth China with its heavier rainfall pro-
du(* 4 »s large though iiiadesjuate amounts of
luiiilwr, and then' has long Ixh'Ii systematic
replanting in many <listricts. North China
has many plarit<Hl trtH'S. In the drier areas
it is questionable whether there ever w’as a
natural forest i'over.

It sf*t'tns [irobabie that much of the delta
plain of northern China and the flood plains
of the \'aiigtz4* and other rivers of central
and southern China Iuin c Ihth occupieii by
man since the de|Hisition of their present
surface*, so that they have never had a cover
of natural vegetation.

Although adequate ecological studies are
not available, the following description,
bascsl largely on studies by James Thorp,*
presents the characteri-stics of ten major
vegetation regions.

* Taoar. Jsitaii, «f the Soil* of China,**

Nsnkiaf: Natlnaal Gf>nki|ric«il Survey (IIRMI).

Vegetation Regions or China
A» Cultivated river plairm

B. Desert flora

1. Darren Hands
t. Salt-tolerant plants

3. Xcrophytic plants

C. Steppe grasHlandn

1. Short-graHH Hteppe

2. Tall-graHH nteppe

X. Tall bunch and short grass

y. Tall and short grass with patches of forests

D. Semiarid brush

E. Dry mountain flora

F. Upland forests

1. Deciduous and coniferous forests, dry t>T>e of
the Mongolian Border Uplands.

4. Deciduous and coniferous forests, moist type of
the Central Uplands.

3. Dense coniferous and deciduous forests, humid
type of the Southwestern Uplands.

6'. Saechwan lowland flora
//. High moruntain flora

I. Subtropical forests

J . Tropical broadleaf forests

A. In the cultivated river plains of the
Yellow, liwai, Yangtze, and West rivers,
.soils are more or less constantly renewed
and have never had a chance to develop a
natural vegetation because they are under
cultivation. In the north, pines, poplars,
and w'illows have been planted on grave
plots and in the viUages, and groves of
w'illow's and poplars are common along the
streams. On the plains of central and
.southern China many different species of
trees common to those regions have been
transplanted along roads and waterways
and on grave plots.

On the newly forming delta lands in
Tungting and Poyang lakes, and on the
alluvial soils bordering small lakes of the
central basins, there are large areas of
reeds. This type of growth was probably
characteristic of alluvial lands in the south
prior to their cultivation.

B, Barren sands with scattered dunes
cover relatively small parts of the Gobi and
Ordos deserts, perhaps no more than 10 per
cent, but are widespread in the Takla-makan

Tbt orifuuJ ctover of naitiral vcfrUUoii over eMtem CJhiiui h** lmr|{ely 4ifMif>peer«<l. but tbl* rettiiiitfiielioii

(wc pefe 65) eupfiliee • guide to tbe poteoiml (and use. No ioformattou ti avaitaUc for oullytiig areas.

their exaet locaiion is uncertain. On the areas with their appropriate typea of
sand dunes, vegetation is either very sparse specializetl vegetation,
or entirely lacking. In intervening low areas Salt-tolerant species and hatophytas
wh«a» the water Uble b relatively high, Mcaieely form a dintinct region but occur fa

Natural Vegetation

scattered areas of saline and alkali soils.
They are found in poorly drained parts of
the desert and sc^miarid regions; smaller
areas are present along the seacoast from
Hopei to southeast of Shanghai. Two
general groups of plants occur on them.
One of these eomprisc^s the true halophytes
or salt lovers, the second group are salt-
tolerant and grow not only on the saline
soils hut on neighlK>ring nonsaline lands as
well.

Considerable parts of The Gobi, Takla-
makaii, and other deserts of northwestern
and far western ('!hina have dry xerophytic
plants. The vegetation mainly comprises
shrubs, some short grass, and many small
flowering plants that spring up rapidly
following s[K)ra<lic summer rains, quickly
reach maturity, and disap(>ear with the
return of drought.

(\ The short-grass steppe is largely con-
fiiitMl to north western Suiyuan and Chahar
proviiKM’s in Inner Mongolia, although it
occurs in Farther Tiln*!, Sinkiang, and
Outer Mongolia. Moisture increases towanl
the southeast from The Gobi region and
there is a oirresjsinding increase in the
density and variety of vegetatimi. Near
the Iwirder »»f the true desert the clumps of
grass are a f«Mit or two apart, while along
the southeastern lamler of the short -grass
stefijH* the vegetatifiii forms a continuous
cover and includes clumps of tall grasses.
In pla<x\H where the water table is close* to
the siirfaex*. soils an* mure or less saline or
alkali, and the vegetation is halophytic. In
nu»isl areiius that are not saline, there is a
rich growth tif tall grasses, ^laiiy flowering
t>lanls and small shrubs are inclutl€*d.

The tail-grass step|M* lies southeastwxird
and eastward from the short -grass stepjx's
of Inner Mongolia, without a sharp IkhukI-
ary. In addition to the grass€*s there are
many flowering plants ami shrubs including
licxirice ami iieveral »j>ecies of sage. Within
the tail-grafii region where there is the same

variation of density of growth as in the
short-grass region, associations of species
also follow topographic differences. On
some of the hills one finds a few elms and
pines but most of the scattered trees of the
region were cut long ago.

Parts of eastern Chinghai and Kansu
form subregions. Tall bunch grass, short
grasses, and shrubs occur around Koko Nor.
Farther south there are both tall and short
grasslands on southerly slopes and flat
areas, with spruce and fir on some of the
northern slopes.

D. Semiarid grasses and brush form the
natural cover over the greater part of the
loess deposits in Shensi and Kansu. Most
of these soils have been cultivated or over-
grazed for so long that natural ecological
as.sociations have been seriously disturbed.
On steep hillsides and in gullies too rough to
be cultivated, there is a mixture of thorny
shrubs and many species of both tall and
short gra.sses. Around protected temples
are groves of trees that thrive fairly well.
These include the arborvitae, the pagoda
tree, iK>plars, pines, and occasional cedars.
These trt*cs are sometimes assumeil to be an
indication that the Ix>ess Hills wx're once
forested, hut there is no valid reason for
supposing that this w^as the case except on
the higher mountains which c-xtend above
the general level of the loess. The magniff-
cent trees growing on the loess around some
of the temples were all planted.

Within this region are many areas above
the general level of loess deposition. On
these there was once a fairly dense forest of
mixcHl deciduous ami coniferous ty{H\s, with
many remnants tcxlay. In the valleys,
farmers have planted groves of poplars.
These grow quickly on irrigatetl lands and
in five or ten years can produce timbers for
building purposes. Willows have also been
planteii on the sandy ffoml plains for stream
control, timber, fuel, and material for
baskets, and they line the ancient highways

China's Physical Environmetd

of the region. It seems probable that willows
formed a natural feature of the landscape in
ancient times.

bills and valleys have a mixed short- and
tail-grass association, and many of the
shady slopes have a dense cover of bushes.

Seriofis erosion quirkly foIUim*# mtioTiil of the fore*! rover in the bi|eher iiiountAin* of the nortliwrn!. (ff . (\
LottSermilk\ camrieKH Vnifrrtitff nf Sanhng.^

A prominent feature in western China,
and especially in Regions />, E, and //, is
the difference in vegetation betiveen the
adret, or sunny, side and the ubac, or shady,
side of the hills. The southward-facing
adret slopes receive much greater insolation
than the ubac, or northward-facing, slopes.
As a consequence the latter soils are cooler
and more moist. IVhere sunny slopes are
covered by short-grass vegetation, corre-
sponding shady slopes have tall grass and
bnish; abere the sunny slofies are ooverefl
by tall grass and brusli, shady slopes
usually are in a forest.

E, Much of Chinghai, parts of north-
western Kansu, and possibly a small area
in nf>rihem Sikang have a dry mountain
vegetation of trees and grass. The greater
part of the valley lands and lower moufitatn
slopes is covered by grassy vegetation. The

In scattere<l area^ at altitudes appnmching
10,000 feet, shaily slopes are coverwi by
forests of jK>plar, spnicf*, and fir. At greater
heights, jmtches of ff»resls are more com-
mon on the sunny sIo|m‘s while the sha<ly
slopes and high (M^aks are too cold for trees
of any kimJ. .Miove 14,000 feel, and still
higher on the southern sk»f>es, is an alpine
vegetation of short grasses, ** cushion
plants," and small flowers.

The heights of the Kueii I#uii Range and
the high alpine mmdows of the Hwang
River headwaters form a subregtoti. The
landscafK! is liarreii and deiiolate.

F. Mixed deciduous and eoniferoui for-
ests were the original co%*er over the Mon-
golian Border l^plandi. At present the area
is largely a land of grassy ercMled bills and
barren stony mountains, with oocmaional
forest remnants as remimlers of former con-

Natural Vegetation

ditions. Among the trees still standing are
oaks, elms, chestnuts, maples, and coni-
ferous types such as pines and junipers. In
second growth thickets the jujube tree is
very common and is usually interspersed
with grass.

Deciduous trees grow more commonly on
the deeper soils of the low hills and alluvial
fans. Pines occupy the thin soils and crags
of the more or less barren erodefl mountains
but have Ix^en planted on some of the foot-
hills and alluvial fans.

In the valleys, groves of poplars, willows,
locusts, and elms have been planted as a
source of wcmkI and as a means of con-
tnilling river erosion. Some of these groves
tentl to repnKluce them.selves and so might
be considered as a seminatural vegetation.

Forests prolialily dominated the Central
Uplands Wfore they were jw^ttled by man.
From remnants in the Tsingling Itange and
southern Honan it stems evident that this
forest was somewhat more dense than that
of the drier Mongolian Horder Uplands, and
dominantly of deciduous types. In the
southern jmrt Uiere are occasional ever-
green broatl-leaved trees. Dn the shallow
soils of the high mountains and on poor
acid mills of the low hills in the south, pines
are common.

Practically all of tliis original forest has
Ikh*!! destniyeil, but new growth springs up
readily on the Indter soils. In much of
Hiirian and Anhwei, grass has taken the
place of forest and is cut every year for
fuel, along wiili young bushes and trees.
Fuel gatherers not only cut off the tops of
young trees but dig up the roots as well.

lh*nm* coniferous and deciduous forests
txiver the rolling to mountainous South-
western uplands, the mountain.^ surround-
ing the Ssechwaii Lowland, and the higher
mountain f>eaks of western Fukien and
eastern Kiaiigsi. There are prolmbly small
areas in other mouiitains of southern China.
The vegetation owes its character to the

heavy rainfall and high humidity. Areas of
undisturbed growth are rare, but natural
reproduction takes place readily. In the
Tapa Mountains of the Szechwan-Hupei-
Shensi bonier, and in the mountain complex
south of the Yangtze River, the original
forest cover comprised a large number of
different conifers and deciduous trees.
Spruce, fir including Cunninghamia, and
hemlock are common on the higher moun-
tains, and are interspersed with many
different deciduous trees on the rolling and
hilly lands, such as oak, che.stnut, and sweet
gum. In the Kweichow Hills a large part
of the hilly land has been partly or entirely
deforested and is now covered by tall
grasses. Many temples are surrounded by
small areas of forest. Evergreen broad-
leaved trees with thick and leathery leaves
of dark green color occur in the south.

In western Fukien and eastern Kiangsi,
the forests are largely of Cunning hamia
and pines. Large plantations of bamboo
are very common, especially along the
streams. Cunninghamia forests are not
natural but have been planted by the
villagers as a regular tree crop.

Within most of this humid subregion
the forests consist of large trees and a more
or less dense undergrowth. In a few places,
such as the mountains of northeastern
Kweichow and northwestern Kwangsi,
there are patches of tropical selva or rain
forest. In this type of forest large trees of
the evergreen broad-leaved type form a
dense canopy of leaves 40 or 50 feet above
the forest floor and make so dense a shade
that there is relatively little undergrowth.

U. Pine, bamboo, and cypress are char-
acteristic of the Sasechwan Lowland. Prac-
tically all of the valley lands and a large
part of the hills are now used for cultivated
crops, and much of the remainder is de-
voted to planted forests of pine and
cypress. On the higher hills are many
deciduous trees mixed with the pines. In

70 China^s Physical Environment

M)ine places oaks dominate. In the hills
at the western edge of the region the
naninu» a valuable evergreen broad-leaved
hardwood, is common. There are a few
species of palms.

One of the most noticeable trees of
Szechwan is the common banyan which was
probably iiitrtKluced into the region a long
time ago. Banyans are evergreen broad-
lea vetl trcH's use<l for ornamentation and
shatle, anti as objects of worship.

//. This region compris<\s the high moun-
tain flora of the lx>rderlan<l iH^twet'n the
Szechwan Ix>wland and the TilK*tan High-
lands. Along the heatlwaters of the Min
River and h€\vf>nd the so-callcHl “rain
screen'* mountains of western Szt'chwan,
the tops of the mountains are ctiveresl with
csniifennis forests, while the intermetliate
slofx\s are in grass. Still farther northwest,
grass grows on the south Hlo|x^rt anti forests
on the northerly slo jh‘s. To the west is a
series of det»p canyons and high roiling
uplanils. The gorgrvs are either Imre or
covereil with spmcx% fir, ami pine, while
the smoother |>art.s of the uplands have a
thick sckI of a vena and festuca.

/. Subtropical evergn^t'ii bnuu 1-leaved
tm‘s, pine, Vunninghamia fir, and tmmboo
characterize much of ('hina south of the
Yangtze. Approximatt^ly virgin csinditions
exist cmly in swime of the more reunite and
thinly settlecl regions ami on sa<T<?fl moun-
tains. The original cover was pniliably a
mixture of conifeixnis and decicluoiis tribes,
with pines and oaks im|iortant on the old
re<l and yidlow soils, and broml-leavtsl
evergreen treses playing a sulKmiiiiate role.
Idle latter become dominant on the mow?
fertile brown and gray soils of the region.

At present these rctgions are used for the
pWKluction of regular ero|>s of Cunning-
humm and bamboo, as well as pine, decidu-
ous and broarl-leaved evergr€?f!n trees. Most
of the lower hills have lieen clearcHi again
and again by fuel gatherers, and in many

places the work of these people has been so
intensive that the soil has become entirely
bare and severely eroded.

Over a large part of the region it is a
common practice to burn the grass and
brush of the hills every year. In Chekiang,
Fukien, and parts of other provinces, young
trees spniut up from the roots of the old
ones after the. land has been burned, but
on the {KXircr soils a continued practice of
this kind ultimately results in the complete
destnictioii of the forest grtiwth and its
replact*ment by tall, coarst* grassc^s. Much
of central and southern Kwaiigsi has been
almost entirely deforestefl in this manner.
The present vegetation <x»m prises various
grass<*s whose* chief value is for fuel except
that during the younger stages they furnish
a fair pasturage for W'ater buffalo and other
cattle. On .some of the strongly acid and
deforc‘stcHl rtsl soils of South China, f?spe-
cially in Kwangtung arul Kwangsi, coarse
ferns entirtdy csivcr the land and aw? used
as fuel.

Alaiiy grave plots are partly eovereil by
shmie trec*s, among which swc?ct gums and
camphor are CMiniiion. Camphors, also
common around village sites, aw often
held in veiienition and so protc*ctetl for
centuries. 'Flu* camphor trees of Kiangsi
and Hunan are among the most magnificent
trees that exist in China tcnlay.

I he north<*rn liiiiit of the stiblmpical
forest region approximately coincides with
the northern limit of palm ami citrus trees.

J. Tropical s<?itiidf*<nduoiis fow?sts arc
present in the far south along the south-
eastern c-oast. and in Hainan. Broad-
kyiveil evergwens dominate but are mixe^l
with [lines, deciduous tw*f*s, and IminlKKi.
(>n the oilier wsl earths and on some of the
jioor thill soils of moiiitlatii sides, pine trees
are more plentiftil. On denudet] hills eoarse
|pmm?s or fenis have monopolized the soil-
Some of the grasslands of this region
resemble the cogonab of the PhlUppifies

Soils

and other parts of the tropics. Citrus trees,
sugar cane, bananas, and other tropical
and subtropical fruits are grown in addition
to the dominant crop of rice. In many parts
of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, crops of trees
and bamlKK) arc raised on the hills, espe-
cially near navigable rivers.

Soih

Just as vegetation summarises climate,
land forms, and elevation, so the soils of
("hina in turn are largely a by-product of
the natural vegetation. Geological parent
materials place their initial stamp on young
soils hut, as time goes on, the Cf)mposition,
textim*, and profile of mature soils take on
environmental characteristics that increas-
ingly reflect climate and vegetation.

Thus each of the great soil gmups has a
fK'rsonality acquired from its environment.
This is shown in their profile with its ,1, /i,
and r horizons, of which the lower is
unmo<iifi(Hi parent material while the up|X‘r
two are zones of organic acxnimulation ami
leaching, the .1 horizon; and of clay
acfnifiiulation, the B h(»rizon. Intensive
cultivation has further altertni these natural
soils through <lepletion or increase of
fertility, erosion, and the mollification of
internal chara<'terist ics.

In classifying the infinite complexity of
( hinese soils, two great groups ap|K*ar.
These result fnim the major physical con-
trasts iM'lween the North and the South
iiiul lie Imck of the agricultural and cul-
tural diffi‘nuic<‘s of these same major
regions. To the north of the Hwai River,
where rainfall diminialies, soils tend to be
rich in lime and soluble plant nutrients,
imrous and friable and c'asily tH*rmeated by
water. In the Yangtze Valley and south,
many soils are leachetl, heavy textured,
more or les.s stiff, and less fertile except
where reriewe<l by flocnl deposits. Thixiugh-
out China they ttuid to I>e low in organic

matter and many are deficient in plant
nutrients.

The soils of North China are chiefly
pedocals, or calcium carbonate-accumu-
lating t3q>es, hence the '‘cal” of their name.
Where well developed on the uplands, they
include chernozems, chestnut-brown soils,
and light-colored de.sert soils. Lowland
8<>ils of mature characteristics include
shachiang and saline soils. Young alluvial
soils lack a textural profile but many are
calcareous and some are also saline.

South China has pedalfer or nonlime-
forming soils, name<l from their aluminum
and iron, “al” and “fe.” Upland well-
developed varieties include podzol and
po<lzolic soils, and red and yellow' earths.
On low'lands with poor drainage, various
rice patldy soils are formed, either with or
without pcKlzolization. Recent alluvium
forms still another type.

(liernozems occur chiefly in the grass-
lands of northern Manchuria, Inner Mon-
golia, and northeastern Til>et. The thick
black .1 horizons of these soils get their
color from the organic residues of the tail-
grass steppe. Lime ci>neretions or soft lime
carlKuiates occur in the B horizon. Typical
chernozems are not extensiv’e in semiarid
eastern Asia but, if present, they are
notably better develoj>e<l on the shady
and more moist slopes of hills w'here the
grass cover is more abundant. Elsewhere
in subhumid areas are degraded chernozems
where partial {Hxlzolization has modified
the profile; these are similar to the black
prairie soils of the United States since they
are without lime accumulation. Chernozems
are among the most fertile soils in the world,
but in China they occur in regions where
rainfall is barely adequate for agriculture,
and where latitude or altitude makes the
frost-free season precariously short. Much
of the colder land remains in pasture. Where
the land is cultiv'ated, soybeans are an

7 «

China* s Physical Enrironment

excellent crop» also wheats millet, and the
grain sorghum kaoliang.

Chestnut-colored soils have an A horizon
which varies from dark to light brown,
largely in terms of the humus content.
They are found along the drier margins of
the chernozems in Inner Mongolia, eastern
Tibet, northwestern Manchuria, and in the
more moist parts of Outer Mongolia and
Sinkiang. Short grass is the typical vegeta-
tion. Although the soil is fertile, rainfall
is ina<iequate for normal crops and dry-
farming t<*chniques are necessaiy. Coloni-
zation of these areas, not unlike the
American dust Ik>wI, is sure to involve
occasional disaster. Inner Mongolia is full
of evidence of alternating settlement and
almndonment. Since dry climates are not-
alily variable, deserts expand and contract
with the centuries, llemnants of three
ancient great walls north of the present one
reflect the shifting iKiiiiidarA' l>etween
fanner and pastoralist.

The soils of the lo<*ssial parts of Shansi,
Shensi. Honan, and Kan.su re<|uife a s(>ectal
classificatiort since they an* deriv€*ed very light
colorefl chestnut earths. Some soils in the
drier areas of scran ty vegetation are yellow-
gray earths. On more humid inountain
slofies chernozems and dark chc^stnut soils
have developcrd. lieneath the loess are
reddish shales w*hieh have given rise to
local areas of red soils, so immature that
their classification is uncertain. A consider-
able |mrt of this art^a is under cultivation,
although serious errosion restricts land use.
In y€?ars of adequate and prtipcrrly dis-
tributed rainfall crops are bountiful, but
unfortunately good years are not the rule.

Gray and yellow-gray desert soils are
common in the short-graiis and brush areas

of Mongolia and Sinkiang, the former
representing the driest phase. Evaporation
of capillary moisture forms a crust of lime
and salts, w^hich may partly cement the
surface during times of drought. Where red
soils occur, the color reflects the local
parent material rather than desert proc-
esses. Sandy surfaces, known in (Chinese as
ahamo, are so porous that little or no
profile develops. Agricultural development
is limited to oases whose area is insignificant
in relation to the whole desert. The chief
use of the des<*rt Is for |>a.sture, but drinking
water is inacce.ssible in large areas.

Shachiang Kc»iLH an* unique, although
apparently relatixl to .some on the Iiido-
Gangetic Plain and in Texas, 7'hey occupy
large jxarts of the Eastern l>owlands in
Shantung, Honan, .Vnhw'ei, and llofiei.
These soils an* jKKirly drainf*n-manganese
<!oncretions. rnlike pn>|x?r iKxlcKTals, the
lime is not all derivtsi from the leaching of
an A horizon but prf>lMibly come.s fn>m the
ground water who.*w* flurtiiatiiig level
coiresfiomls to the zone of concretioris.
Flat to|K>gra|)hy is a pren*qiiisite and, in the
iiitersiream an^as, extensive seviums are
ficKKlcsi almost ever>* .H«*ason: when the
dikes of the Hwang. Hwai, or Hai are
bn‘ache<l, shallow' lakes tlevelop and remain
for a year or ni<»n. In wet weather the soil
is heavy and sticky, w bile in dry weather it
lieeomes very hani. Oop yields anf
mmlerate.

iteceiii ealearef>us aUtivium c*ovc*rs the
flocMi plains of North China and may range
fn>m sand to clay in conq>osiiti:iii. The silty
soils are usually the most jirodiiciive for
agnculture. The cfmrser de{Kistts lie closer
to the rivers and make up the naluml
levecrs. Ixxml sand diinifs have developed
from these? dejmsits. During the 10J15 flood
in Shantung some of the Hwang River
deposits were six feet thick; farms that
had had jKKir sandy soil were cfivered with

Soils

productive silt, and the reverse. These
alluvial soils lie in the winter wheat and
kaoliang area, with important amounts of
corn, cotton, and tobacco.

Saline and alkali soils are widespread in
North China, even in the Hwang River
delta. In their technical classification they
belong to solonchak and solonetz types.
EvafKiration of capillary water from a high
water table develops a surface concentra-
tion of soluble salts. The wet season is
tfK) short to flush out the accumulation of
the dr>" j>eriod. Such soils are found from
Shanghai to northern Manchuria, and
northwest to Mongolia and Sinkiang. True
alkali soils contain sodium or potassium
carlKinate and are not very common in
(liina, but c<»ncent rations of scMlium chlor-
ide with some scHliuin sulphate and sodium
bicarlK>nate art* common. Where these soils
are Um> saline fc»r cultivation, salt-tolerant
plants are harvestisl for fuel. Even where
saline soils have not yet develojied, the
intrmhictioii of irrigation, as along the
Mongolian lH*nd of the Hwang River,
rai.Hi's the water table. in<Teas<*s capillary
activity aiul eva|M>ration, and may quickly
mill the soil. .\«lequate subs<iil drainage
must Im* provitltnl to ktnp the water table
at a low level.

'riiN'c other soils are either limy or aWmt
Meiitrul. One is the Shantung bmwn soil,
much eriKltsl Init rc‘scnibling the brown
fiirest soils of Mtsliterraneaii Europe. Tree
crops of jM^ars, jHTsimmons, and other
fruits supplement the common grains.
I^irple^brown soils are common in Szech-
wan and Yunnan, and in parts of Hupei,
Kiaiigsi, and Hunan. These are derived
from highly colonnl ('retaceous and Tria.s.sic
formations, some of which may in turn be
fossil peflocals. Since the erosion of these
soft rocks is rapid, the soils are relatively
immature. In some ways they are related
to the gray-brown jiodzolic iwiil type. Rice
is the dominant crop, but there is also a

diversified production of com, wheat,
sweet potatoes, beans, and tobacco. This
is the area of tung oil trees. Agricultural
usability varies considerably. The third
type is the rendzina, best developed in
Kwangsi and Kweichow but found even in
Manchuria. Rendzinas are dark-colored
warm-climate soils with imperfect profiles,
which in color and humus somewhat re-
semble temperature chernozems and chest-
nut .soils. Where uncultivated, they are now
covered with grass but may have had
forests at one time. In addition to raising
rice, these soils are used for upland crops
such as corn or are allowed to produce
coarse grass for fuel.

Fedalfers of South China include forms
which in North America lie in the east.
True podzols are a leached forest soil with a
thin raw humus layer over an ash-gray
sandy soil and a dense enriched B horizon.
Although originally described from cool
forest regions of the Soviet Union, it is
now recognized that under special con-
ditions they also occur in warm climates.
Wry few areas of virgin {kkIzoIs remain in
China, but there are occurrences in the
mountains from northern Manchuria to
Iiido-China. WTiere true podzols are absent,
the same or related processes may produce
podzolic types. Two of tliese are the brow’n
and gray -brown leached podzolic soils
w'hich are widespread in the hills on either
side of the lovrer Yangtze River, with
patches throughout the south. These soils
are related to the Shantung brown soils.
There is a wide variety of environmental
conditions, both hot and cool, steep slope
and flat land, and moderate to excessive
rainfall. Soils of the clay-pan variety,
similar to planosols of the United States,
occur where the B horizon is especially
compact. They are usually associated with
old wind-laid deposits derived from flood
and lake plains in central China. Normal
brown and gray-brown podzolic soils are

China^a Physical EnMTonment

well suited cultivation if they do not
occur on slopes that are too steep. Although
their native fertility is low, their colloids
are capable of absorbing fertilizers. Rice is
the chief crop on the clay pans, w’herc the
dense B horiztni is an assist in allowing the
fields to be kept flcKKled. Wheat is a winter
crop.

Red aii<l yellow' soils are dev’elojied in
areas of over 40 inches of rainfall and little
or no fret*zing weather. Red soils involve
low’er humidity anil usually higher tem-
peratures than yellow’ soils. Each was
develojjed in a tofKigraphy wiiere erosion
was at a minimum. Where derived from lime-
stone, the reil .soils are calUsi “terra rosa.’*
Some of the mi soils have Ix-cn developed
from latent ic nx'ks which in turn are but
fossil red soils. The n^sulting .sf>il is of little
agricultural value, for the colloids have
no ability to retain plant nutrients. Shet*t
erosion and gullying an* M*vere whi^re the
land has bein cleareil. I'he ml soils have
been useil for tea. lung oil trees, and for
producing fuel. Yellow soils are somewhat
better agriculturally and can be utilizeii
for the foregoing crops and for rice, but
they an* largc*ly in forest or wild grass.
True laterite like that of India occurs in
only a few’ place.s in ('hina.

Rice |>addy .soils are a specialiml type
on the plains and terraced hillsides of the
south where irrigation has develo^ied an
artificial clay pan. Both podzolic and non-
podzolic ty|>es are present.

Recent deposits of noncalcareoua allu-
vium occur in the South as well as the
North* although fiood plains and deltas are
smaller. Dike construcliori prevents ac-
cumulation except when fioods break
through the dikes. At the same time heavy
rains remove fine material fn>m the terraced
hillsides and change the otbenvise clear
rivers to reddish or purplish mud.

Each of these soils has its eharacteristic
crops* with varying produertivity according

to climate, fertility, etc. Only through in-
tensive use of manures have the Chinese
l>eeii able to secure so many thoiisami
harvests fnun the same fields. This is es-
j>ecially tnie in South C'hina where the
original fertility is low and hillside erc»sioii
has been .st*vere.

The most important fertilizer is human
waste or night s€ul, carried from the citie.s
to the farms and there father allowed to
ferment or comjK>st<Hl with earth and waste
organic matter, .\nimal manures are avail-
able in only small cjiianlity. Oil cake from
cotton .st*i*<ls, .s4>ylH*aris, {xaniits, and
ame is al.so ustnl. In areas of canals ami
ponds. iKittoin mml is spreai! over the fiehls.
One of the difficulties «if preparing c*om{K)st
fcrtiliz<*rs is the sluirtage of organic waste
material to absorb projH*rly the nitrogen
lilxnited in the rh^'ay of the manures.
Wheat ami rin* slniw art* tm) valuable for
r<K>fiiig pijrjK>H«‘>, ninking rofx* or sandals,
or as a fuel to Ik* umsI in c*oin|Hist.
mereial ferlihz<*rs are usisi oidy near the
larger cities. Mineral fertiliz<*rH such as
|>otash, phr»sphates, and nitrates apfiear
to be of lirniUHi cKxnirrerict* in ( hiiia, al-
though phosphates have Ix'cn flisci>vere«l
ill Yunnan.

Since the cities are the chief s4>im'i* of
fertilizing night siiil, Thor|> has (KiinttKl out
that each is surroiuidfsi by a ring <if fertile
and more jirmluetive soils wdiieh exU*iids
alKiut as far as a man may go ami come in
a day with a loail, [iitrmsltatily outside
the city wall, vegetalde garde tiers u.se
enormous quanliltes of night soil, ashes,
and city waste. In piaef*s thrse arttficial
soils are as black ami rich as cliernozems.
Thorp adds,^ “In riding by train arrosii the
North ('hina Flatn just lx*fore the time of
wheat harvcfst oiu? can always tell when
the train is approaching a large city by
the ifiiprove<l apfxaraiice of the wheat

» Taoiir, iAWiM. * <xs>irmplty nf tiie Bells of C liiiia.**
4SS-4S$.

Mineral Resources

crop. As one approaches nearer and nearer
any large railway station the wheat plants
become more and more luxuriant and the
cars larger and more filled with seed.’*

Because Chinese agriculture has con-
tinued for many centuries, it should not be
inferreci that natural soil fertility is high or
that permanent prcnluctivity is simple.
Thousands of square miles have been aban-
doned because of reduceil crop yields or
severe erosion. l.arge areas of alluvial soils
are periodically replenished by sedimenta-
tion, but prtHluction is maintaine<i only
through great care and conservation of
organic waste.

Chinese soils have alKitit the S4ime range
in character an<l prcMlnctiveness as other
parts of the worhl in the siime latitudes.
Some are naturally rich and inteii.sively
cultivated; others are jKxir and little \\mh\.
With a<lequate care, China may continue
t<» supiwirt her pre.sent sirx* <»f )>opulation
imlefinitely, but it is clear that there ar<‘ ih»
large areas of unuscsl gcHsI latul awaiting
coloniziitioii. Neither do irrigation and
riKdarnatifin offer mucli promise, IncreastHi
harve.sts must come largely from Ixdler
farm practici's and iinprovisl plants rather
than from new acreage.

M i n eral liemnt rrcjr

The future material pnis|K*rity and |K>liti-
cal strength of ('hinu art* closely relatt*<l to
the availability of raw materials for indus-
try. ('hina may remain an agricultural
nation aii<l still preserve her classical cul-
tuie, but without mineral wealth there is
not enough grKHl fami land to provide an
adequately impnivtxl liveliluKKi for her
people. Agricultural raw' materials may
funii.sh a basis for plasties and other syn-
thetic products, but minerals are essential.

For two thousand years the Chinese have
know n soiuetfitng about the common metals
and have searcdied the more acceMible parts
of their country for the easily smeltecl ores.

European travelers during the Middle Ages
brought back strange stories about the
wealth of Cathay, and Marco Polo was able
to report to his fellow Venetians that the
Chinese excelle<i them in the use of coal
and iron.

The National Geological Survey, founded
in 1016, is recognize<i throughout the world
as the government’s leading scientific
agency. Although its task is far from com-
pletion, the general picture is now reason-
ably clear. Major discoveries will probably
Ik? confiiKHl to remote areas or to resources
w hose geology is less predictable.

To summarize her resources in a para-
graph, China is bountifully supplied wdth
coal and has major reserves of antimony
ami tungsten. Tin and iron are available in
moderate amounts, and there are small
cpiantities of a wide variety of minerals,
(opper, sulphur, petroleum, and other
essentials apj>ear very limited. China has
the mineral basis for a modest industrializa-
tion, but in terms of her population she
ranks well down the list of the great powers.
Nevertheless, no other area on the Pacific
side of Asia is better supplied.

TheSino-Japanese War seriously changed
the production picturt*. Mines in Manchuria
have htH-Mi enlarged, although production
has not always reache<i the e-xpected goals.
In the oecupitsl areas south of the Great
Wall, many miiit^s were destroyed and pro-
<iuction further restricted by transportation
shortages and guerilla activity. Although
most of the c*oaJ and iron lies in areas in-
va<le<l by Ja[>an, many of the lesser metals
occur in southern and western Free China
where the war introduced different com-
plications. Conspicuous mining develop-
ments occurred in Sasechwan.

SOtinCES OF EKERGT

Coal is China’s great source of natural
power, and the country ranks fourth among
the nations. Out of a world total of some

China's Physical Environment

Chtiw’s rmw maicfiiib are divcnitficd but iiuukqiuitr in amoutit ttn a mitioii *4 iu mm. Tbit map, and Uiimm*
for iiibaequmt area*. iUm\ with prcMiticibm rather than rtmtrvtu. Mont c»f ihr Irttera repn^mt rheniieal ayntboli
The itae ftigfratf the relative im^ioftatuv in wcMtid produclton,

FneU are ahown in aha<jb«’ Irtlert. C for coal and O for oil. Mtorrab are iti vertical block letlartiMiftillowai
Ab-bauiite or other aluminufzi f*rt, <*ii— copper, Fe— fron, H|r - fi>m*tir)', l*b lead, Sir -antittioni'. So —tin.
W -lunifaten, Zn —atne. lfi<iti.vtrial agrkiiltiif^ prodocU are b italioi: t'o—ctitton, Si— ailk. IFo~wool.

Mineral Resources

Coal RasouRcm and pRODtrcnoN in China
(Reserves in Millions of Metric Tons, 19S6 Estimates^)

Province

Coal

Total

reserves

Production

Year

Anthracite

Bituminous

Lignite

Anhwei.

(M)

287

347

683.000

1934

Chnhar

487

504

202,000

1934

Chekiang

101

250,000

1934

Fukien

Sdl

149

500

Heilungkiang

619

392

1,017

405,000

1934

Honan

4,6SO

1,994

6,624

2,130,000

1934

Ho|>ei

981

2,088

8,071

7,739,000

1934

Hunan

455

1.338

.793

1,050,000

1940

Hupei

160

280

440

458,000

1934

Jehol

573

614

356,000

1934

Kansu

1.500

,500

98,245

1940

Kiangxi

S04

765

969

340,500

1940

Kiangsu

192

217

j 267,000

{ 1934

Kirin

986

155

1,143

1 411,000

1 1934

Kw'angsi

150

300

30,000

1 1940

Kwanglung

371

421

338,000

1934

Kwrirhow

774

1 775

1,549

860,750

1940

Liaoning

187

1 1.649

1,836

10,656,000

1 1934

Nlnghsia

166

1 322

488

1 15.000

1 1934

Shansi

86.471

1 87.985

2,671

127,127

1 2,700,000

1 1934

Shantung

1 1.613

1.639

3,504.000

1 1934

Shensi

750

i 71,200

71,950

322,450

1 IMO

Sikaug

32,000

[ 1940

Sinkiang. . .

100.000

i 1930

Stiiyuan

j 337

417

58.000

1934

Saeehwan. ,

i 9.810

9,874

3,280.324

1940

Yunnan

1.485

131

1,627

202,000

1940

Total

45.620

187.036

3,412

236,068

; 32,379,000

1934

> Ciocikitw'al Hurrry of riuna; iVmJ and Oil Hcaourrca of China, Waahinston: Third World Power Conference rraraiao*

i»^ (issti). II. sr7~ioa.

.Hcvcn trillion metric toiui, the United States
comes ftrst with thre«* and a half trillion,
the Siiviet Union has over one and a half
trillion tons, Canada has one trillion al-
though much of it is of low quality, while
( *hina has a quarter of a trillion tons.

Careful estimatefi of the Geological Sur-
vey are now available for S25 of the 28
provinces. The areas omitted are Sikaiig,
Chtiighai, Farther Tibet, Sinkiang, and
Outer Mongolia, none of which have large
deposits. The 18S6 estimate of reserves
amounts to 236,068,000,000 metric tons,
'rius is a conser\ative figure, somewhat

smaller than previous government esti-
mates and only a quarter of the figure
presented to the Twelfth Internationa!
Geological Congress in 1018 amounting to
996,613,000,000 metric tons.

Although every province has some coal,
the major reserves are significantly con-
centrated. Four-fifths are in Shansi and
Shensi, and make this one of the major coal
fields of the world. The only coastal prov-
inces that are well supplied are Shantung,
Hopfl, and Liaoning.

Coal production has developed in the
more accessible areas of the northeast

78 China's Physical Environment

niUier than in the richest provinces. The million tons and Luta in Shantung; Ching-
total output for all China reached 30 million hsing and Mentoukou in Hopei ; Chiingyuan
tons in normal years between the First and with over a million tons, and Liuhokou

Th« open-ccit coil mtoef *1 Fushun operstr on the thickest tied of bitumtootti conJ in Ihe world.

MoHrkmna Rmiway.)

Second World Wars, or a per capita use of
about 150 pounds a year. This conifiarea
with 1,000 pounds |K?r fMrrson in Ja}>an and
S,000 pounds in the United States. Sin€?e
China’s reserves excetnl a million pounds
per capita, there is adtrcpiaU* wmI for several
centuries.

The two lea<ling mines are the great ofien
cut at Fushuii, scjutheast of Mukden, and
the Kaiian works north of 7'ieiitsin. The
former has a cafiacfty of over ten million
ions a year while the latter can produce six
million. Among the other more imfxirtant
mines are those at Pefichihu and Sian in
liaoning, Muleng in Kirin, Peipiao in iehol,
all in Blanchuria; Chunghsing with over a

in Honan: 7'atung and Patichiu in Shansi;
and a new group c»f mines near Chungking
in Sxechwaii.

Petroleum ap))ears to be alisc*rit over
most of ('hina, anti gisdogical fmdors make
the diwovery of major fields unlikely.
The most iittraidive {Missibilities are around
the eastern anil northern ntargiiis of the
Tilxdan Plateau, esfMs:*ially south of Si-
ebang ill Sikang and near Chiayukwan
(Ytmien) in north W€»steni Kaiisti. Oil is
also known along the Tien Khan at W^isu in
Sinkiarig and iimr Yefichatig in Shensi.
PrfKiiiciion in Katisii was exfierietl to reach
10(1,000 iiarrels in 104t; elsewhere the yield
is negligible.

Mineral Resources

Oil shale is distilled in southern Man- High-grade contact metamorphic ores
churia at Fushun and elsewhere* but the oil are mined along the Yangtze River at
content is low. If further search fails to Tayeh in Hupei and in Anhwei. For several

The Aiifthaii Steel Worlui receive their ore from Taku Shan, a mountain of low>grade siliceous hematite. {Courtesy

South Manchuria Railway.)

6nd natural oil, China fortunately has
large quantitie.s of coal from which to make
synthetic gasoline.

The |K>tential water |K)wer of ('hiiia lies
largely in the .south an<l west, wliere thcrt‘
an* swift rivers and high rainfall. It is esti-
mattsi that the n^sou^ces available 1)5 pvr
cent of the time amount to 1,995,000
horse jKiwer, while those available but %50
fM*r cent of the time, owing to seasonal rain-
fall, tc»tal 40,H7It,0(K) horseiKiwer. Almost
no hydn>elt?ctric jniwer is in o|X'ration.

IHOK ANII THE ri:HHC)ALU>Y»

Clitna is relatively ileficient in iron ore.
Small de)Mmtts an' widespread, but only a
few oectimmces an^ largt' and of high
({iiality. Even these are remote fmm coking
coal.

decades the entire output has been shipped
to blast furnaces in Japan. The 1936 export
'was 54^2,000 tons, but earlier figures ap-
proached a million tons. The Tayeh ore
was shipimi to the now idle Hanyehping
furnat'cs op|K>site Hankow prior to 19^5,
ami during the 1930's the Nanking govern-
ment projK>stHl to build new steel mills
along the central Yangtze.

Excellent stHlimentary hematite occurs
in the Hsuanhua-Lungyen district 150
miles northwest of Peiping, reopened in
1941 for shij>nient to Japan. The nearby
Shihchingshan blast furnace has been little
usihI iH'cause of the expense of transporting
coke.

ScattertHl de|x>sits in Szechwan and elae-
wheri' in the southwest were developed
during the Sino-Japane.se War, with a total

China^s Physical Enfdronmetd

limit on the future of industrialization.
Conspicuous centers of hea\'y industry will
assuredly develop, but in total production
they cannot compare with the major
powers. Equally serious is the distance
between iron ore and coal suitable for
metallurgical coke.

The level of industrial development prior
to the Second World War is suggested by
the total consumption of iron in China,
which amounted to alK>ut 600,000 tons
per year, including imports. This is a per
capita average of about 3 pounds, and
compares with 150 pounds per person in
Japan and 1,000 pounds in the lJnite<i
States.

China's pitKlucUon of iron ore reachcMl a
top of £,630,176 gross tons in 19£9, but
declined to 1,30£,704 in 1936 and 551,000
metric tons in 1940 outside Manchuria.

Only one of the ferroalloys is conspicu-
ously abundant, namely, tungsten. There
is a small production of manganese, but
deposits of nickel, chromium, molylxienitm,
and vanadium ap;K*ar to he lacking.

Iron Or* Rnsociicni ako ts ( his a

(l)*U in Metric Tons, from V»riotiA Sourrr*)

Province and Ixicaiity

i Ileaervr*

1 mntriit

Year

Cbaluir:

i '

iijiianlitia>lAinio^en

1 Ol.Si^.dOO 1 lltgk

j liciumed

1641

Hupei

45.<MM).0(I0 i lligli

1 4St,000

1664

Tayeb, .

liS.fMKJ.tMJO Higli

1 600.000

1640

Ankwei.

iO.OOO.OOO lligti

[ i

1664

Linoatiig:

H7f.«00.000 Uw

! i

Amiliai} , . ,

ix>w

1 660,000

1664

Minueficou

1 ^ lA>«r

1 666,000

1664

TufigiMeiitac

l(Ml.UOO.O(IO ; liigli i

Kwanftuna: |

1 !

Hainan ..

400.000,000 I ?

Suediwan j

I H.000.000 1 Urn

ltt,600

1640

ISikanf „ . , . |

06.000.000 ; lliiili

i74M»0

1640

Yumiaii. I

U.600.000 j }

16,760

1640

ABCliiii. 1

I4l0t.600.000 1 Fair

1466,000

1664

Crklna . - . •!

660.000

lam

i IP1R6

output for 1940 of 3£0,360 metric tons
of ore in all of Free China.

By far the largest iron ore deposits are
those of .southern Manchuria, but the
metallic content is low and there are numer-
ous metallurgical problems. The largest
deposit is at Aiishan, with other mines near
Penhsihu. Japanese interests have built
important steel mills at each locality. The
Showa Steel Works at Anshan have several
times been enlarged, and were to reach a
capacity of 3,600,000 metric tons of pig
iron in 194£. If this ambitious program
were reached, Anshan would rank among
the dozen leading iron and steel centers of
the world. At the same time the Penhsihu
plant was to produce 500,000 tons. Short-
ages of coking coal are serious problems in
each case. Recent discoveries of high-grade
ore have been made near the Korean
frontier.

The total known ore reserves for all of
China as given by the Geological Survey
amount to 1, 302,600,000 tons. This is a
very modest reserve for a country of this
size and population, and places a serious

Mineral Resources

Tungsten, derived from the mineral
wolfram, is found in southern Kiangsi,
and there is also a small production in
Hunan, Kwangtung, and Kwangsi. The
ore reserves are estimated at 1,647,500
metric tons, and at times China has supplied
the major part of the world market. Al-
though it still holds first place, the [xjrcent-
age of world output dropjjed to per cent
in 1940, when the production of Free China
amounted to 8,757 metric tons. Burma is
the second pnaliicer.

Manganese ore occurs in Kwangsi, where
the 1938 exports totaled l,^i46 metric tons.
There is also production in Hunan, Kiangsi,
and Liaoning. In 1930 the production
amounted to 70,7^£ tons, lleserves are
a<ie<|uate for domestic needs.

OTHKK M1NRKAIJ4

Coplier has lieen ust*ecially at Peng-
lisien, and Yunnan, near Tungchwan (now
Hweicheh), are almost the only provinces
that contributiHl to the 1940 pnKluction of
1,078 metric tons in Free China. This is the
largest ever rc*cordc*<l. .\reas o<x*iipietl by
tile Japaiiest* in that year had little output,
except for a few’ hundred tons in Manchuria
where de|K>sits have l>een found. Newiy
dimiverttl reserx'es in Sikang are reporte<l
t<» contain 1,824,000 metric tons of cop[)er
ill rich 18 fK?r cent ore, as compared
with 216,000 in Yunnan and 131,000 in
Kweichow.

Aluminum pitxluciion is limited to
•lafianese developments of aiunite in Liaon-
ing and and bauxite in Shantung.

Hauxtie is rcporte<i from various provinces
Imt the amounts appear rntniest. Chekiang
Has clays high in aluminum.

I^ad and line are mined at Shuikoushan
in Ilunati and elsewhere in the southwest.
'Hie 1940 Free China output of lead was
^approximately 1,800 metric ions while

that of zinc amounted to 250 metric tons.
This is a large reduction from previous
years.

Tin is China’s most valuable metal next
to iron. Yunnan is the major producer,
with 13,340 metric tons in 1940 out of a
total of 17,278 metric tons for Free China.
This is about seven per cent of the world’s
total. Yunnan’s reserves of tin are placed at
1,000,000 metric tons of metal, with 417,000
additional tons in Kwangsi, Kiangsi, and
elsewhere. The chief production is from the
Kochiu district in southern Y^unnan, where
there are both surface residual deposits
and shaft mines.

Mercury is obtained in Kweichow and
Hunan, wdth a total Free China output
for 1940 of about 225 metric tons.

Antimony is one of China’s conspicuous
metals. The 1940 yield was 7,137 metric
tons of antimony regulus (99 per cent
metal) and 389 metric tons of crude anti-
mony (70 per cent metal). These totals
compare with 19,058 tons of regulus in
1925. The average yield represents 20 per
cent of w’orld procluction and places China
behind Bolivia and Mexico. Except for a
very small yield in Yunnan, all this was
from the Hsikwangshan area in southern
Hunan. Since the ore reserv^es here amount
to 1,415,500 tons, with further amounts
in Kweichow’ and Yunnan, production may
continue for a long period.

Sulphur is widely produced both as a
by-product in Hunan and from pyrite in
Shansi, .southwestern Hupei, Kweichow,
and elsewhere. The official output in 1940
reached 10,000 metric tons, but the actual
total may have been several times that
figure.

Salt is produced extensively for domestic
consumption, and there is an increasing
export to Japan for industry. Most of
China’s salt is obtained from the solar
evaporation of sea water, largely along
the coast north of the Yangtze where the

China’s Physical Environmetii

A Geographic Forecast

humidity is low. Salt lakes in western
Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and southern
Shansi yield a small output. Szechwan has
numerous salt wells. The normal production
for all China amounts* to 2,550,000 metric
tons, with the leading provinces as follows:
Kiangsii 500,000, Szechwan 425,000, Shan-
tung 420,000, and Hopei 330,000 metric
tons.

Child is secured along the borders of
Tilnd and in northern Manchuria from
low-grade str€*am gravels. The Free C'hina
imMluction in 1940 amounted to 478,188
ounces, with Szechwan and Hunan as the
leading provinces. Silver jircMluctiori is
limited to a liy-product from lead.

.1 (ie*ygraphic Forecajtt

C’hiiia’s mineral wealth lies in two areas,
('oal and iron are in the north, largely in
the basin of the Hwang River and beyoml.
The lumferrous metals such as tin, anti-
mony, tungsten, and such cop^HT and lead
as are pn^st^nt occ*ur in metalliferous zones
south of the Yangtze. Although there is no
slmrtage of suitable choking coal in ( -hina
as a whole, smelling finiblenis are every-
where coiiiplicatiMl by the ili-stancc lietween
metallurgical mke and ore.

The location of future industry will
reflect the distribution of raw materials,
transport facilities, access to markets, and
political considerations of security. The
enormous coal deposits of Shansi will un-
doubt€^dly attract major industrialization.
Hankow and other Yangtze centers are
well hicated as far as transport is concerned.
Seaports such as Shanghai are acce.ssible
to imported materials and skills but lack
local raw materials. The mineralized areas
of the far west and south have important
ores but lack adequate coal and are remote
from peacetime needs. Tran.sport will
everywhere be a critical economic factor.

Few' areas in the w'orld present the basic
industrial opportunities that China will
seek to develop during the remainder of the
twentieth century. Many of these problems
rest on heavy industry and in tuni upon
geology. The situation is somewhat com-
parable to the problems of the Soviet Five-
year Plans, but unlike the U.S.S.R., China
is only modestly endowed with natural
wealth. It is fortunate that coal is super-
abundant for it is the key to power and to
chemical industrj% but the shortage in iron
w ill lie serious before many decades. These
problems will be considered again in
Chapter 9.

Chapter 5

FARMING IN CHINA

The Chinese live very close to nature.
Their culture is a product of the soil, but
the **good earth'" is not everywhere or
always good. Only thmugh the most pains*
taking care has it l>een [possible for the same
fields to yield thousands of harv^ests.

Two major crop areas stand out, the
North and the South. The North is a dry
dust-blown land of wheat and millet, under
the influence of the Mongolian Desert. The
South is green and humid, a land of rice
and canals and of forests. So intimate is
the relation between man and nature that
his cultivated crops represent a mature or
climax adjustment to the environment.
Both are a part of the natural landscape.

The average C'hinese farm household
consists of fl.^2 people who cultivate 4.2
acres of land; in the rnitcd States, farm
families average 4.2 [lersons and cultivate
157 acres.

The Affrieultural iMndjtcnpe

China is a land of farmers, and (Chinese
culture is a pnKluct of the soil. Agriculture
forms the foundation of the social and
economic structure, involves several times
as many fieople and far more capital, and
if much more fundamental to the national
welfare than all other occupations put
together. Many factors influence its suc-
cess— some human, some physical. The
prec(!<ling chapters have traced the back-
ground of topography, climate, natural
vegetation, and soil, and those to follow
will expand the cultural aspects of regional
agriculture in more detail.

In describing the Chinese landscape it is
important to keep specific locations tti

mind, for few characterisations can fit four
million square miles. Land use and land
usability vary widely throughout China.
The oases of Sinkiang, Uic mountain
valleys of Tibet, and the pioneer lands of
Manchuria art* all part of the same country,
but they are very different from what may
be termed Agricultural China in the east.
Even within the area of the traditional 18
provinces, crops in the vicinity of Peiping
and Canton have little in common.

With all this in mind, certain generali-
xatioDs are valid. Chinese agriculture is
intensive in its use of human lalmr, with
relatively few* draft animals. I^arge yields
are obtained through painstaking care from
farms Uiai are divided into micrviacopic
fields. Everywhere there are industrious
people. One simply cannot escafie from this
teeming |K)pulation. .\t least three-quarters
of the Chinese obtain their livelihood
directly frtim the soil, so that agriculture
forms the fabric of their culture.

In few other large aiun tries do people
live so close to Mother Earth, and the
density of rural population chmdy parallels
the pixsluctivity of the land. In several
places there are over 2,000 people per
square mile, and the average density for the
whole cxiuntry in terms of cultivated land
is 1,4H5 [leople f>cr sc|uare mile. Despite the
greatest care, distress and famine have
often resulieil frtjm environmental uncer-
tainties or the haasards of war, lianditry,
and taxation.

Chinese agriculture has had a long
and honored history. For at least 80 cen-
turies, farmers have Ijerii able to till the
same fields. The {lalienee and induitry

The Agrieuhural Landscape 85

of the Chinese have become proverbiaL garden plots, while hillside fields wind
Long experience has shown the best crops along the contours. Throughout the coun-

Spioning thread in the cotton ar^ui near Shanghai. {Mattawuk.)

for different areas, and agricultural prac> try there is a superabundance of people
tires have cndeavoreti to maintain the and an undersupply of arable land.
ftTlility of the soil rather than to rob its Grains supply 90 per cent of the diet,
pHnluctivily. with only a small part of the energy derived

A part of the motlern population growth from meat, fruit, and nuts. The diet of the
is relaieduction of new North is more diversified, for in the
crops, such as sweet potatoes, com, and Hwang River Delta wheat, kaoliang, millet,
fieanuts from the Americas. These have corn, sweet potatoes, and soybeans each
given the land an increased population- supply at least 5 per cent of the total
HupiKurting ea^mcity, as in Szechvran wdu^re calories. In the hills south of the Yangtze
swwt fMjtaioes arr^ grown on dry hilltops no crop other than rice supplies more than
un.Huiteti for rice. that proportion.

.As one flies over Agricultural China, the In a countryside so densely crowded as
landsca(ie every whert* reflects the intensity China, there is little land that can be spared
of inatt*s quest for f*WKl. Wherever crops for pasture. More food can be obtained by
<'iin lie rmised, the land is under cultivation, the direct consumption of crops rather than
Ibver plains are divided into tiny geometric through feeding them to livestock. Figs

Farming in China

and chickens live on the household refuse, live surveys show that the typical holding
Fish are an important part of the diet near is divided into six pieces, each made up of
the seashore and in the canal areas. two unfenccd fields. These have been sub-

WcttvitiK cloth in North Chiiw. l>cin>itc mmlrm tmlu»trv there U flill m brifr h(»n>e t>ft»cli»(r ttoti.

Domeifdtc fuel m alijo a by-|>r<Kluct of
agneuituret for rice and wheat Ktraw,
kaoliang and cormrlalks, and other plantu
are gathered for use in cookstovc^s. Supphes
of firewood or coal are seldom available,
but villages near the hills commonly have
uncultivated areas fmm which brush and
grass are gathered. In the northwestern
provinces and in Mongolia, dried animal
dung is widely use<l for fuel, and this use
is often in direct competition with the
needs for fertiliaser.

About three-<|uarters of the cultivated
land is owned by the farmers, with a larger
percentage* of ownership in the north than
in the south. Not only are the farms small,
aireraging about four acres, but representa*

divided by iiiheritancr and are srailered
over a radius of as much as a mile from the
farmstead. *

While Chiriest* agriailtiitre prtMiuces good
yields fH*r acri*. such production is a result
of lalmrtous and wasteful um* of man poaer.
Excessive care is Im*s1owi*<I ujmn tiny fields,
and prcKjiiction is s<*ctjn*il only through
concentration on a small |»cr capita area.

^ * Bees, 4, Lusstsi}, rtihiiitkiii itt C*liiiyi,**

CliioMro; I mver»Hy of rbinmo Prawi (IW), 9
vtAuimm, This work is tsisrU tip<jn ssttipk tlttdifw of
lfi.786 fsmiA in ISS kswlttks in t« proirtfiisM of Chilis
from ISta loss. IWswsr of |Hr Jsfisiiiw iavssioti of
MmnehurM, it wss ttnpossthlr to mrry m fM4 work la
thst sr«*. Thnw sof Ukewtie m dsls Iroia Oviter
Moagolis, Smkknu, w Vmhm Tilm.

Land Use in China

In terms of national welfare it is not the
yield jier acre but the yield j>er person that
brings prosfwrity.

l^rge amounts of human labor arc used
in place of machines to produce crops. The
man ecjuivalent required for 1 acre of wheat
in China is 26 days compared with 1.2 days
in the United States. For cotton the com-
pi^rison is 53 and 14 days; 1 acre of corn
in China re(|uires 23 days but only 2.5 days
in the I jiited States. On the ba.sis of yield
per farmer, China prcxiuces but 3,080
pounds a year as coinparc*d with 44,000
|K>uiids in the rniteil Slates. “A farmer who
prodiK*es little cannot ex[K*ct to have very
much of this world’s gwids.”

Most of China is an old land of stabilized
agriculture where the soil is so inten-
sively ciiltivaUMi that increascsl yields
are diOiculi to st'cure without uiu^cxmomic
cx|K‘ridi lures for fertilizers, machiiier>%
or re<'lamatioii. Few opiKjrtunities for
pioiUH*ring exist and are largely in areas
of precarious cliinate. One of China’s
most pressing problems corictTiis tlie rela-
tion lH*tW€‘t*n exfianding [>opulation and
lirnitcsl agricultural prcKluctivity.

The most detaile<i study of Chinese
agriculture is that by J. Ixi-ssing Buck of
the University of Nanking, undertaken
%'itli the supfKirt of the In.Htitute of
Pacific Helations. In summarizing hi.s
studies, Buck makes several recommenda-
tions, the first of which is that the present
iiuiividual farm units sluiuld Ix^ continued
rather than attempting major changes in
the form of ctilleetivizalion or large-scale
fanning. Among the jHilicies recommended
in his studies are coiisc*rvation projects to
check ertision and minimize flfXKl hazanls,
the irrigation and drainage of new land,
ct>nsoUdation of farm holdings, agricultural
research and educmiion, larger crop yields
through better iee<ls and insect control,
farm credit, and improve<l transportation.

Land Use in China

China’s greatest resources are the land
and the peoj)le, but we know neither the
exact size nor the population. The ac<k)m-
panying table presents data on the per-
centage of cultivated land and cultivated
land per person.'

Cultivated Land in China

Provinfe

Percentage
of total area
cultivated

.\rea of cul-
tivated land
per person
in acres

Anhwei

■■■ ' i

0 38

Chahar

4.1

1 30

(hekiang

£6 3

0 30

Chinghai

Fukien

114

0.35

Heilungkiang

5«

1.84

Honan

37 6

0 55

Hope*!

46 0

0 51

Hunan

12 9

0 26

Hupei

19 5 1

0.31

Jehol

6 1

0 83

Kan»u

3,7

0 66

KtangHi

14 1 j

0 26

KiangHii

52 4

0 39

Kirin

14 4 i

1 19

Kwaiiji^i

Kwangtung

115 1

0 21

Kweichow

8.1 i

0 38

Liaoning

16 8

0 76

Ningshia

0.5

0 79

Shanai

21.7 1

i 0.77

Shantung

46 5

1 ^ ^

Shensi

110

1 0.48

Sikang

Sinkiang

0 5

0.84

Suiyuau

3 7

1.40

Ssvehuan

15.0

0.39

Y unnan

4 2

0.41

Agriculturiil ('hiiia . . .

27.

0.45

Provincial (’hina

0.45

Greater China

0.45

Estimates of cultivated areas are uncer-
tain. Sample measurements under the direc-
tion of Buck showed that the actual

* Cranq, C, C., “ An EsiinMite of China** Land* and
CropK,’* Nanking: University of Nanking (lOZf).

Farming in China

cuitivated land was from one^tenth to place this at 0.45 acre, but, allowing for
ofie-third greater than reported for tax incorrect data, it may be as much as
purposes* On the basis of corrected figures, 0.5 acre j>er capita for farmer and city
the total cultivated land within his eight dweller together. This means that an
agricultural regions, excluding Manchuria, average farm family of 6,€ persons must
Outer Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Farther obtain its entire livelihood from a farm of
Tibet, is placed at 362,08€ square miles or 4.18 acres, of ivhich but 3.76 acres are
itt per cent. By allowing for those areas actually in cr«>ps. And, in China, farming
omitted in Buck’s surveys, the total crop is the one grt‘at source of income; only
area may be 4£5,000 square miles, or nearly minor contributions to the national income
10 per cent of Greater China. Whatever are derive<l from ininitig, luml>ertng, fishing,
the figures, they represent nearly the maxi- or gracing.

mum that is profitable under present eco- About one-fifth of the land is in forest.
Domic conditions. much of it of noncommercial types, and

Tlui Mandmiisa farm near Ckiiicliow iiidicatcs tin* divernty of crofM grown tn tliii ricfti man (CmKritm

Smak Mamtkufvt Rmlwayl rum mim,

Other countries report cultivated land
u follows; 17 per cent, Britiidi India

46 per cent, the Soviet Union 8 per cent.
Great Britain 88 per cent, and tJie United
States 83 per cent.

Tbemost siipuficant fact u the amount of
cultivated land per perwo.CMBcial statistics

nearly another fifth in pasture, largely in
Mongolia, Sinkiang. and Tibet. Large areas
are so seriously eroded that they are now
usc^ss. The greatest contrast between
Chinese and western agricoltaie is the
®*8ii8ible percentage <rf farm ana in
pasture or wood bta. Graves, farm build*

Land Use in China

ings, and other nonproductive uses account the great investment of labor that has been
for 7.6 per cent of the average farm. necessary to make China productive.

Nearly half the cultivated land is ini- Many and various crops are grown, and

The Yaniclae l>elU is an intensiTely cultiviited land, cut by innumerable canals and ponds which surround
mirr«Mic<»pir fields. This aerial view near Kiang>nn was taken in June just after the wheat harvest; the white
fields are fiooded preparatory to transplanting rice. (.4rro-Sarivy .VonJ-tng, roiirfesy J. lowing Burk.)

gated, in almost all cases for rice; and the Chinese agriculture differs from that else-
areas where drainage or flood protection is where less in the varieties of things grown
<leveloped are nearly as great. Terraced than in the methods used. The most impor-
land amounts to alMiut ,a quarter of the tant food grains are rice and wheat, with
t^ultivated area and is common in both cotton as the chief textile crop. Other
the irrigated rtcelands of the South and the important products are mUlet, soybeans,
<lry wheat area of the North. This suggests the grain sorghum kaoliang, barley, com.

Farming in China

sweet potatoes, rapeseeti, broad beans, and
pc^anutsin decreasing importance of acreage.
Distinctive crt)ps are opium poppy* mul-
berry who.se leaves are bnl to the s!lk\rorm,
tea, oranges, and tol>aec'o. Hay and fodder
are notably lacking.

Tw^o-thirds of tiu* cultivated area pro-
duces two or more cmps a year. Rotation
is common.

The range of yields is wide. Thus Buck
found wheat harvests of 5 to 67 bushels {>er
acre, rice from to 169 bushels, and corn
8 to 8€ bushels. The Chinese averages, with
comparisons for other countries, are shown
on the accompanying table.

('«op ViELtm

^In Bttilieb per Acrt, rxcrpl ( otton in KiU^O^im)

i'htiui Japan ImiU rjS.A.

I nion

Riot 67 6 S 47

Wheat 16 45 II l« 14

Corn n n 15 15 «S

Barley 19 36 . 16 it

Irish potat€>e». . ST 139 ItS lOB

Cotton lint 168 ' 199 J SO 18» 177

It .seems prolmble that (!hitia lea<ls the
world in total agricultural production,
with first place in rice, wlufat, sweet
potatoes, kaoliang, soybean.s, millet, l>arley,
peanuts, tea, and probably silk.

The prf>.sfK*cts of agricultural expansion
are summarized by Buck.* “Certain facts
as regards land in China are now clear.
In the first plaer*, no great incrtfasc in
the amount of farm land can be exj>ected.
The removal of graves from farm land, the
elimiriatton of land in iKiundaries by the
consolidation of the f ragmen te<l holdings,
the prohiable cultivation of arable lands
not now cultivated, and an economic siat*
of farm which would lessen the pmportion
of area in farmsteads would probably make

» Bees. J, I ttlimitofi in Cbiniu**

hiOiHKHI.

available an additional ten per cent of the
pre.sent area in farms.**

“In the .second place, farm laud in China
is alrtMuly intcn.siv'ely use<l. A very large
pmporlion of Uie land is in crops used
directly for human foot!, an extrtmiely
small amount in pasture, ami a compara-
tively small ainoiint hi forest or in other
fuel crops. Not only is the tyix* of use
inlen.sive, but the nuKliftcatifin of the
physical conditions of the land by irriga-
tion, drainage, terraenng, an<l to a smaller
extent by fertilization, also tends to bring
alxiut a higher degixH^ of utilization. It is,
however, through the .still more intensive
use of the pr(»M*nt fami land of China that
the greatest increase in ffxui prcMiuction
i.s to l>e cxfHH'tetl, not only by mcHlifytng the
physical cf)ndilions theinselve.s, but through
imprcivements in the technique of crop and
animal prfHliiction, iiide|MUtdetit of the
physical fa<*tor of the land itself. Perhaps
a ^5 |)er cent iiiereim* in total pnaliiction
by moix? intensive niethiMls ami l>y modem
techniques would Ik* a eon scTva live esti-
mate of the jM»ssil>le increase ectmomically,
in China’s agriculturai prcMiuction with the
known ineiluKis of agricultural production.’*

The dceailes following the Sec*oml Work!
War will doubtless see notable changes in
agriculture. IVansixirtation will ojien mar-
kets to the isolates! tiiterior prmliicer, am!
new skills will tmprvive pixKluction. But
whether all the ncfsieel changes are feasible
and aelequate is an otKui quest ton. Al-
though an increased prcMliictioii of Hd per
cent w'ould l>e of cotispicnioiis value, what
China riml.s in oitler to take her place as a
world jK>wer is an increase in her fMrr capita
income of several hundrtxl jier cx’Ut, It does
not apiKar that agrieulitire holds the key
to such a change.

Agrieultuftd liigmm

No one can Iwvcl more Uuui a few
hundred mile* without being iniprened

Agricultural Regions

by difFerences in crops and farm practices, related to climate and soil; still other differ-
Some of these gniw out of custom, as where ences reflect markets. Taken together the

non - aoricultuRA u

'^“AGPicuLTUR

SZECHWAN RICE
AREA

V ---'A V

^ '' J'
“t?'' ^

yano'tZE-
WHEAT ARE^

:t-T£A area

SOUTHWESTERN RICE

! C« OPR»NO

/ rjce area

,>'v i;' , .

V *•<<» *•'» I

\ (-■ v.~\

I I »

I / '

‘ '
L\ , , j

AGRICULTURAL REGIONS

(AFTER BUCK)

SCALE I : 30 , 000,000
0 too 400 BOO B<

AgTK'uHuml rondUkitiM divide ('hina tiiici nine rvfrinnM: four in the wheal areas of the North and five in the
rii'e areaa of the S«»ulh. Drought and ct>ld eliminate cultivation in the weal. {Afltr J. Lmmng Buck,)

immignuitji of centuries ago have brought pattern of agriculture forma a mosaic that
their crops with them; others are directly has broad regional characteristics.

Farming in China

The most conspicuous boundary is the
northern limit of continuous rice cultiva-
tion with its flooded fields, canals, and

Yellow Plain, and the Winter Wheat-
Millet region in the I-oess Hills. Beyond
the limits of Buck’s surveys is the Man-
rnAHAr'TnRiiiTtni or China’s

Agricultural ("hiua (without Manchuria}
Wheat Proving (without Manchuria
1. Winter Wh<*at Kaolian#? region
t. Winter Wheat- Millet region

3. Spring Wheat region ...

4. Manchurian Soybean- Kaoliang region .

Rice Province . .

5. Yangtse Rice- Wheat regH»n..

6. Rice- Tea regitjn

7. Siechwan Rice region

8. Double </rr>pptng Rice region

a Soiithwe*tem Rice region.

4«

i e

!| !l

* S

>1 • I
•si : ?

II ^ I

I SSMii’ iW* 47

! 17«.»16 se 18

!i4 5 *41 ns.ws «8 10

17 ' (**5) SI. 869 *<10

14 196 **.054 18 IS

*5 |150 50.000 *ti I 5

166.7*8 i 18

4* i. *ikS I 40.S*8 ) S5 i 61

59 [ SOS j 4*.624 . 18 | 78

S9 i SS4 *47,579 S*

69 ! S65 19.155 IS

S60 17.04*

8 *

i II if la

19 *

•S's

S H

1,485

5 1

1.1*8

5.1

1.165

: S,.7 '

1 1.*34

73 '

' 858

800

*,8 j

1,746

3 5 j 1.360

* *

1,788

3 1

1.610

* 3

t.07*

i 0

*,636

< Ail 4k1a are from Buck, “laiad rUlicatMMgi in C hinn." i. p|». 90-SH. euirfiit for the Manrhurian Sioykiraii^KafUtaaf ami which lajr
* eltcwhef* fir«« sat.oat aqitare mile* aiwl *7 per rent a* a belter fiaurr fur tlae are* ami |wrrmiiliW« «4 rulliraliwl Unci within

water buffalo, near latitude S3®X., shown
on the aceoniiiaiiying map of agricniltural
regions. This line lies midway IwtwcH*!! the
YangtJEe and Hwang rivers along the crest
of the Tstngling in the west and near the
Hw^ai Rivcfr in the east. South China is
a green, humid, and subtropical riceland,
while the north is a dr>^ brown wheatland
under the influence of the desert. W'heat
extends well into the Yangtze Valley as a
winter crop, but it is not a conspicuous
source of food in the south.

Within the Wheat province of the north.
Buck has described three agricultural
regions: the Spring Vllicat region along
the Mongolian frontier and into Blanchuria,
the W^inter VITheat-Kaoliang region in the

churian Soy }H*an -Kaoliang region. The
Hiee province of the south is similarly
divideil into the Yangtze Ilic<!^Wlieat
region, the Szix’hwari Rice region, the Rice-
Tea region in the hills mniUi of the Yangtze,
the Double ('ropping Rice region in the far
south, and the Southwestem Ricre rt^gion.
Scattered oases in Sirikiarig, shelterfsl
valleys in Til>et, and a fringe of cultivation
in norlheni Mongolia are to Ik* a 4 ide<l.

Some of the distinguishing features are
shown in tabular form on these two
pages and deserv^e careful study. Since the
detailed mryeyn of Buck did not extend
into Manchuria, approximate figures arc
added from “China’s Geographic Pounda*
tions” for the Manchurian Spring Wheat-

Agricultural Regions

Soybean region, but are not included in the wheat is a conspicuous crop in the Yangtze
averages. Valley and almost as far north as the Great

Major contrasts appear between the Wall, beyond which spring wheat is com-
Aaaicui/ruRAi. Kboions*

Diiitribuiion of crop area, in per cent

Distribution of
livestock,
in per cent

Ixx^litiea having each
transport method,
in per cent

I Kaoliang, 15
I Kaoliang, 19

I Irish pedatoes. 10
I S<»ylH*ans, £5
Kaoliang,

5« ai i
7S

41 10

00 ; , . I

. i 14:

IS : . ; Harley, 10

IS:

IS Opium, 1 1
. . ' Sugar cane. 6
( I I Sweet potatoes, U
111 I > : Opium, 10

1 ' Hrtmci beans, 17

O i

i -

(S !

i 1 5.

1, 1 : ^

1 I S- c

.« I o c

^ . .i,. , ^

e*! j

S i =»

Human car-
riers

22 l»

|37

11 14

1 40

1 S7

, , ... 21

14 IS

Isi

. . ..115

28i 11

r :

! 1

i i

S8 » 17 I

! 1

i i

i !

1 ■

; S4

42 i 15 ; . . '

1 22

1 ..

‘ ^ !

|4S

S2 20 ;

1 71 '

i 25 !

: 12 SI ;

IlOO

1 ..

; 22 i

44 ! 15; . .

i 83 j

49 14 1 . .

1 1

1 75

i 25

j IS

i i

Typical
fruits or
other
products

Persimmons

Apricots

Grapes

Walnuts

Pears

Wood oil

OUtMci# Itift
I he fmri «>f

•urvryft. Ttirsr fiffurm are from ('r<>««py. " ('bias'* (jcoarspbic Fottadstions," p. Sai, and srr only s{>proiiiiistion*.
Asrw'vkuraJ ( 'bias rovrml by his survey*.

Wheat and Uice provinces. Thus the grow-
ing season in North China is five to eight
niofilhs wdiile in South China it in ten
motilhii to a year, «o that double cropping is
more widesprt^ad and the same land can
supjKirt more people. Rainfall is over twice
as heavy in the south. The gross area of the
South is larger but Uie pwsence of extensive
plains in the North gives it a greater culti-
vated area. Nevertheless, the higher pro-
ductivity of the ricelands enables them to
support nearly twice the total population
of the wheat-producing section.

Rice and wheat are the outstanding
Chinese crops. Although the former is
largely limited to the south, scattered culti-
vaiioti extends into Manchuria, Winter

mon. If Manchuria is included, the wheat
acreage exceeds that in rice. Water buffalo
go with rice, but oxen, knowm to the Chinese
as yellow crowds, are widespread. Farms in
the Wheat province are twice the size of
those in the Rice province, but land value
per acre in the latter is nearly twice that
in the former. No column in the table on
agriculture is so important as that in the
center which gives the farm population per
square mile of cultivated land. With an
average of 1,485 people who must secure
their livelihood from one square mile, China
faces her greatest problem.

Tlie intensity of farming in the South is
shown by 50 per cent greater farm popu-
lation per square mile of crop area, and

Farming in China

their individual wealth is greater as meas*
ureil by more clothing, furniture, and the
value of farm buildings. Tenancy is more
conspicuous in the South, but the figures
cited do not tell the entire story, for there
are numerous part owners in both areas.
During the inflationary |K*ri(Kl of the Second
World War, many farmers were able to pay
off their indebtcxiiiess so that the percentage
of tenants has tIecreastMl.

It should l>e rememl)ere<i that these fig-
ures deal with .Vgricultural China which
cov'ers but 1,060,000 sqiiaix* miles, or only
a third of Greater China,

The Winter Wheat-Kaoliang region is
the most imf>ortant of the Wheat regions,
and Includes a thin! of all cmpland south
of the Great W’all. It ccjvers the Yellow
Plain with its concent rateti {K»{)ulation of
80,000,000 people, and in addition reache,s
into the Shantung Hills. The thief provinces
are Ho^iei, Shantung, and Honan. Although
the rainfall is only ^4 inches, it falls during
the hot summer. Soils are calcareou.s, except
in uplands near the ctmst. In areas of high
water table, saline si>ils f>ccur. Irrigation is
uncommon and usually limitcHi to vege-
table gardens near hand-openitc*<l wells.
Vegetables are grown in a wide variety.
W^inter wheat with summer millet and
kaoliang are Uie chief crops. <>>ni, cotton,
soybeans, and swc*et potattK^s also c<ivcr a
considerable area in the summer. Barley is
a minor winter crop. No other agricultural
area has so much diversification. Farms are
relatively large for China, with an average
of 5.1 acres in crops. FIckkI and drought
present recurrent hazards.

The Winter Wheat-Millet region lies to
the west in the Loess Hills, with fertile soils,
steep slopes, excessive erosion, and marginal
ratnfall. The chief plains are along the Fen
and Wei rivers in Shansi and Shensi. More
than a third of the cropland is terraced, not
for flooded fields but to enable steep hill-
sides to be culil^mied. Winter wheat, milleU

cotton, kaoliang, and corn are the crops.
Cotton is gn)wn in the warmer Fen and Wei
valleys; kaoliang and wheat art* c*onfiiied to
the plains and valleys; while millet i.s grown
on tlic higher and drier hillsides. Double
cropping is practiced on 18 [H'r ctuit of the
land as comparctl with 39 jkt ccuit in the
W^'inter Wlieal-Kaoliang rt*gion.

The Spring Wheat region forms a fringe
along the Mongfdian frontier, tying on
either side of the Great W’all. Elevations in
this hilly area range from 3,000 to 8.000
fet*t. The niinfall is so low that normal
cultivation is unsafe without irrigation, but
available water is liinitc*<! to the Hwang and
its few tributaries and streams from
northeastern Tiln*!. Elsewhere dry-farming
techniques must Ik* iistnl. Only five moritlis
are fret* from frost. Considerable areas arc
uschI for pasture, aiul it would W wise if
many hillsides now' plowcsl were put Imck
into grass. Iiistea*! of Iwing a prosfiective
zone for pioneer settlement, most of the
Spring W'heal n*gion alrt*ady has more
|>eople than it can safely su]>|Miri. The crops
are all summer grown, and inclutle spring
wheat, millet, Irish |MitattH*s, oats, kaoliang,
Imrley, corn, rict*, and fonnerly opium
f)oppy which was ratiwsl on the frtmtier bc-
cauM* [KK>r trans|Kirt facilities for more
bulky crofis. (hqi yields |H»r acre art* 16 per
cent IkIow* the national average. Famine i*
more severe here than I'lsewliere. Statidardt
of living are low.

Tlie Manchurian Soylieati Kaoliang re-
gion spreads over the Maftchiirian Ilainii
and the East Mafiehtirtaft liills, and is
larger than any other agrictiiiural arf».
I>uririg the early decailes of the twentieth
century, this new land was the goal of mil-
lions of Chiitem* imtnigrants, liut by 1949
the p^iptiiation hail reached 40,000,000 and
little giKid land rt*friained except aloiiff lli«
cold northern and dry westem margiiii. In
the central |Kiriton, rainfaJJ m acbqtiata fo**
succpsitful agrictiHure, and aotlf mm terlfle.

Agricultural liegions

The area of cultivated land per person is
the largest in all China, and there is the
beginning of mechanized agriculture. Draft
animals are more numerous than elsewhere.
The chief crops arc kaoliang in the south
and s<iylK‘ans in the north, each with an
estimated i>er cent of the acreage. Other
er<»pH are millet, spring wheat, corn, barley,
ami some rice growm by Koreans along the
frontier.

In the Rice province of South China, the
Yangtze* Rice-Wheat region is the smallest
of all the agricultural arenas, but its eco-
nomic im|K>rtance as the hinterland of
Shanghai is very great. Most of the region
is a low’ AckkI jilain, cut by a network of
rivers, canals, and lakes, and all of it is
intensively utilized, (irass-covered hills ac-
count for most uncultivated land. The rain-
fall is abundant and the growing season
long. As elsewhere in South China, most of
the wiils are noncalcart‘ous. Rice is the main
emp and sujiplies four times the total food
energy derivetl from wheat. Winter crops
occupy a larger |K*reentage of laml than
tl.Hc where, and two-thirds of the land is
<louble-<'roj)iH*d. In order to provi<le lH*tter
drainage for dry winter cn>j>s, the fields are
latMirioiisly simuKhI into ridges a f<M)t or
iiu»re ill height. Crops include wheat, barley,
ra|H*.H<H'sl, and broad beans. Other summer
crops are cxJtton, .soyl>eans, ami corn. Mul-
In'rry f<»r silkwonas is distinctive.

Tile Ricf^-Tea region lies in the South
Yangtze Hills in Chekiang, Kiangsi, and
Hunan, with only small areas of level lamb
Cultivatisl land amounts to but 18 [ht cent,
but thre<‘-fcnirih.H of it is irrigated and one-
third terractnl. Only a quarter of the farm-
ers owm their land, the smallest fraction in
all China. Raj>eiMHMl, wheat, and barley are
grown in the winter, followini by rice in
the Hutniner. Intertillage is eomnion in
Chekiang, with alteniate row.s of early and
late rice. Tea is a hillside crop, as are com,
Hoybeatia, wcmkI oil, and sweet potatoes.

In the Szechwan Rice region the lowlands
raise rice in the summer, and wheat, rape-
seed, and broad beans in winter. On the
hills the crops are sweet potatoes, com,
kaoliang, sugar cane, sesame, soybeans,
tobacco, and wood oil. Yields are 8 per cent
above the all-China average, and the grain
production per capita is also the highest.
This is one of the most prcxiiictive areas in
the country, with crops representative of
both north and south. Crops are closely
adjusted to the available water, .so that the
up|>er dry fields and lower flooded terraces
each have their specialized use. Rice is sown
in seed beds during April or May and trans-
planted to the fields early in June; the
harvest occurs in September. During the
w’inter, beans may be interplanted wdth
wheat.

The Double Cropping Rice region lies in
the hills of subtropical China w'here there
is but limited level land. Thus only 12 per
cent of Kwangtung is cultivated. The grow-
ing sea.son continues practically throughout
the year, and the rainfall averages 69 inches,
highe.st in China. Most soils w’-ere initially
poor and are now badly eroded by both
gulleys and sheet wash, so much so that
extensive areas of rolling hills are covered
with wild grass and are unused except for
fuel. Over ihret'-fourths of the land is
double-crop jxhI between spring and fall, but
92 per cent remains idle in winter. Two
crops of rice are common, planted in March
and August with harve.sts in June or July
and November. Wliereas the yield of 42
bushels is low, double cropping yields a
total of 84 bushels per acre. Rice supplies
over three-quarters of the food energy.
There are considerable areas of sw’eet po-
tatoes, sugar cane, tobacco, tea, mulberry,
and oranges. Famines are rare.

In the Southwestern Rice region, dis-
sected topography and mile-high elevations
introduce regional contrasts. In the few

Farming in China

valleys, rice is the summer crop followed by
opium poppy (when grown), broad beans,
or wheat. In the mountains the chief crops
are com, barley, and millet, and these form
the staple diet of the non-Chinese tribes-
people. Excellent fruit is grown. This is the

second largest of the agricultural regions,
next to Manchuria, but the proportion in
cultivation is the lowest. Nowhere is there
so much crowding, for the farm population
reaches a density of 2,636 people per square
mile of cropland.

Chapter 6

REGIONS OF NORTH CHINA

IfUrodttoHon

The face of the earth may be likened to a
mosaic picture made up of a myriad num>
her of fragments. Each bit of colored tile
has its own features, but they bear little
resemblance to the whole. If one’s eye is
within a few inches of the mosaic, no pat-
tern is revealed ; stand back a few feet and
the microscopic detail is lost but the picture
takes on meaning.

S with the earth. Each field or hill-
side has its unique features, of interest to
the individual who lives thereon but of
little significance to the state as a whole,
(knigraphy is intereste<l in tliis micro-
pattern chiefly as it reveals the personality
of the larger whole. Airplane panoramas arc
more mc^aningful than a worm’s-eye view,
provided Uiat they are oriented and inter-
preted in terms of reality, iiegional general-
imtions are valid only as they rest upon
<lemonstrate<l relations within the smaller
rno.saic, and the latter acquire meaningful-
ness only as oriented in their larger setting.

The function of geography is to give
character and meaning to the face of the
earth and to differtmtiate the jHjrsonality of
one region from that of another. This is Uie
geographic landsca}>e, the totality of land
and water and air and jieople in their
mutual interrelations. In pioneer lands,
where man comes as an exotic intruder,
these correlations are inijierfectly de-
'^eloptKl; in mature lands .such as China the
organic unity of man and the earth is
markedly obvious.

Each geographic region is an entity. In
some areas the dominant feature is climate,
as wdth a desert; elsewhere a crop or a
coastal position is characteristic; still other
region.s are unified by a mode of livelihood.
Boundaries are seldom precise, but it is
usually possible to block out major land-
scape areas each of which is different from
its neighbor.

China is too large and diverse to fit into
any single mold. Few common denomi-
nators are everywhere present, unless it be
a unique way of life and a common history.
Climate and thus vegetation and soil differ
strikingly from north to south. So too do
the people. The major geographic division
of China is into three provinces: the dry,
brown, w^heat-growing North; the wet,
green, rice-growing South; and the arid
nomadic steppes and mountains of Mon-
golia, Sinkiang, and Tibet. The geographic
provinces and regions of China are shown
on page 98. Although the map also shows
surface configuration, there are many
other factors that determine geographic
boundaries.

China proper is an improper name, for in
a political sense the claim of the central
government to Manchuria is as valid as to
the provinces south of the Great Wall. If a
term is desired for the area of normal agri-
cultural settlement and classical history
east of Mongolia and Til)et, one might
speak of Agricultural China or better of
Cultural China, in contrast to Outer or
Noma<iic China to the west. No single
criterion of political boundary, rainfall, or

Regions of North. China

elevation sejmrates the two, but the former lies in the valleys of the Hwang,
traveler who leaves tlie settled area of Liao, and Sungari; the latter is drained by
Chinese agriculture for the more arid or the Yanglzc and the Si. Environment,

The regicnui •imI Und ttmnn of Chiiis. Although thr»r rrgiimN U»lh the rultuml and

phystcm) klidJW'apr, there isi • rhi«r cY»rrf«p€mdriiee with the »urf«<‘e (r*ofirigtirAti(iu Within i htna are 3 gt%»friiphM'
}m>Yinoi!ii and 17 refion* •» follow*: North (ThiiM ineludm the Yellow Plain, ihr Slui tit ting IVtiinjiulfi, Lw^almnd,
the ManeliuriAti IHaiii, the Eaulrm Manehurtan I’platid.*, the Khingatt Mottntaiita. and the iehol Motilitaini.
South China b ditrided into the YangUe Plaiii, the Hsrchwnn Baain, the Ontral Mountain llelt. the South
Yangtse Hill*, the Sfiutheaitem Coaiit, the C!anton Ifinterbml. and the Southweatem Cplanda. (hiler China
u made up of Mongolia, Stniuang, and Tiljet. {Ifast map 6g Erwin Hmatt eovrlrry //omrrd* Kenehtag faultliile,
adapUd h\g Hmdand lUitk.)

more mountainous lands of the nomad is tempc^rament, and history combine to make
conscious of an abrupt transition in culture, these differenct*s so disiinet that there arc
The major division of Cultural China is two (Itirias, almost as unlike as two
twofold: the North and the South. The nations.

Yellow Plain

South China comprifies seven major
regions, each with its own geographic
personality. In general, the rainfall is so
abundant that the landscape is always
green. Marine climatic influences pre-
dominate. Hills and mountains are the
principal land form. Level land is limited
to deltas and flood plains. Forests cover
most uncultivated hillsides. Where the land
is in crops, rice is dominant. A snowless
climate provides a growing seasi>n of nine
months to a year. Famine is uncommon.
The people are shorter in stature than those
of the North, with a more restless tem-
perament and a distinct psychology.

North China is an area of limited and
variable rainfall, under the influence of the
desert. Only four to six months are free
from frt>st. l^n'el land is much more
abundant than in the South. Oops are
varicMil liut include wheat and a variety of
dry grains. Draft animals, two-wheelcil
carts, ami whetdbarniws replaw canalboats
and sislan chairs. North C'hina sjK'aks a
uniform dialect, the kuan hua or Mandarin,
in anilrasl to the variations of the South.
Famine has r<‘C*urrent. Whereas the

jK'ople of South ( 'hina have emigrattHl over-
s<?as, thorn* in the North have gone over-
land to Manchuria.

The l>ouiidar>’ Ix’tween the North and
the South lies midway lH*twet*n the Yaiigtase
and the Hwang, near the thirty-thinl
parallel. In the west the line corresponds
with tlie crest of the Tsingling Mountains;
farther east it billows the Hwai River.

Within the North China province are
seven ge«igraphic rtfgions: tlie YelloMr
Plain, the Shantung Penin.sula. Loessland,
the Manehuriaii Plain, the Eastern Man-
churian Uplands, the Khingan Mountains,
and the Jehol Mountains.*

* Many tyfiwi of regioiw mre coiwidcml in thi*
vciltitn^, liotiwp dimiitie, tome topognipliic, others
ftrogimphie. In the damitficaiion of topomuphy, n
locMlbmil mune k linked with « tnsjor csategory* of

Yellow Plain

No other region has played such a large
role in Chinese history, nor has any other
given birth to so many people, as the
Yellow Plain. During the 30 centuries of
recorded history at least a trillion people
have lived on this good earth. The very dust
is alive with their heritage. Here is the
heart of classical China.

This is the most impiortant area of level
land in the country, and it includes all the
essential features of the North China land-
scape. Few other geographic regions are so
well defined. It seems appropriate to call it
the Yellow Plain not only because it is the
gift of the Hwang Ho or Yellow River, but
because of the color of its soil and the
imperial yellow of its ancient rulers.

The Yellow^ Plain covers 125,000 square
miles, with a population of 80,000,000.
This would be equivalent to two-thirds of
the people of the Unitetl States living in the
area of Iowa and Oklahoma. Parts of
five provinces are involved. Two of these
take their name from the Hw'ang Ho,
Honan to the south of the river and HopKsi
to the north. Half of Shantung is included
and smaller parts of Anhwei and Kiangsu.

The plain of the Hw'ang is an enormous
alluvial fan and delta, built into a crescentic
embayment once occupied by the Yellow
Sea. Other streams have contributed to the
growth of the plain, notably those which
converge to form the Hai at Tientsin and
the Hwai in the south, but the Hwang is
dominant. Where these rivers leave the
encircling loess-covereil mountains they
are heavily burdened writh se<liment. As
they enter the plain their gradient and

elevation: lowland, upland, and highland, and is
further broken down Into the land form units of plain,
plateau, hill, and mountain. Geographic regions are
deacrihed by their dominant characteristic whether it
be topography aa in a plain, location as with a coast,
dimate such as a desert, or a political area.

100

Regions of North China

velocity decrease, hence their transporting from the stream, so that it is a major
power is lessened and deposition occurs. engineering feat to dose the gap and
The deposition of this excess silt raises persuade the river again to flow on top of a

WIm^IImitovs ftre w'ukly iMed for tmntporUitkm ta North (litiui. the food w fMiftimUrly hmiry «

coolie or donkey may help out the maa between the idiafta, Tbete reedi are probably tleatiiied for fence or
hottae cofuitniciion. (Comrltwp Amtritam FrtJtuUmt Stmmskip Xiaca.)

tbc bed of the stream. If the river were un-
restricted, the channel would ref>eatcdly
shift to lower ground on either side. To
prevent this periodic flooding of fertile
farm land, the Chinese have built confining
dikes since at least the tenth century. As a
result of continued seflimentation within
the dikes, the beti of the river is now in
many places above the level of the sur-
rounding countryside and dikes progres-
sively need to be raised. Rivers of the
Yellow Plain flow on ridges rather than in
valleys. One may thus look up at the sails
of passing boats. Since bedrock is lacking,
dikes are built of local earth and ate easily
eroded at times of flood. Once the dikes are
breached, the river ahifts to the lower land
on etiher side. This usually slopes away

ridge. Wlien breaks occur, flood waters
spread to the horixon and disaster follows.
Millions of |>ef>ple have drowned or have
dieil of starvation from the resulting crop
failurt's.

The Hwang has repeatedly shifteil its
course, first to the north and then to Uie
south of Shantung. A century ago when
Great Britain wished to bring pressure on
the Chinese government she decided to
blockade the mouth of the river. After her
fleet IumI anchored off the eoast for several
months without seeiiig any native shipping*
it was leanied that the river had move^l
miles farthi*r north. Tliis was in IMt.
In HKI8, when the lapanese army was
pressing back the C^binese troops asst of
(Thengchow, the Chifiese cut the dikes in

Yellow Plain

101

the path of the invaders and diverted the Since the Hwang flows above the level
Hwang into a new passageway southeast to of its plain, it receives no tributaries in the
the Hwai River along channels used in 1289 lower 400 miles, except where it borders the

Springier IVking cart* have been the principal mean* of travel throughout North China.

and 1887, rather than along the channel of
1852. The Hwai in turn had lost its normal
route to the sea when its original bed was
usurp€?d by an earlier diversion of the
Hwang prior to 1852, thus the Hwai dis>
charges into a series of shallow fluctuating
basins, chiefly the Hungtze l^ke. The
<lrairiage of the present Hwang-Ilwai
system reaches the sea through artificial
channels, one directly eastward and the
other via the (Iraiid Canal which discharge.^
southward into tlie Yangtze. The mouth of
the Hwang River is now thus 500 miles
south of its position from 1852 to 1938,
The flow of the Hwang varies from
10,000 cubic feet per second at low-water
stage to a recorde<i 350,000 cubic feet per
s€»cond during the 1923 flood. During
freshets, the river carries a measured load
of up to 40 per cent by weight. In one dike
break, 18 inches of sediment was deposited
flO miles south of the river.

Shantung Hills. Thus rainfall in adjacent
areas accumulates in shallow lakes. No part
of the Hwang, old or new, is navigable for
steamers; only a few sections are deep
enough for launches.

Floods on the smaller rivers above
Tientsin occur every six or seven years. In
1924 the floode<l area covered 11,500 square
miles and I million people were driven
from their homes. As is the case w'ith
Hwang River floods, the waters cannot
drain back into the rivers and so remain
until evaporated.

Climate in the Y’ellow Plain is as un-
pr«?dictable as the river. The annual rainfall
decreases from 30 inches in the south to
20 inches in the north, but seasonal varia-
tions in time and amount are wide. Thus
Tientsin with a 20-inch average varies
from 10 to 31 inches a year. Winters have
only a light snow’fall, and the summer
rains do not begin until mid-June, In-

Regions of North Chinn

102

adequate rainfall brings famine through
drought. Just as surplus rainfall results in
famine from flood.

Strong winter winds from Mongolia lower
temperatures to 0®F. and bring clear skies
but no moisture. Dust storms are common.
Summer temperatures rise to 100®F., with
high humidity borne by ocean w*inds.
Peiping exf>eriences higher temiieratures
than Canton. The frost-free period is about
1^00 to ^40 days.

Soil is almost the only resource. Few
minerals or fuels occur iKuieath the plain,
except for coal at Kailan in the far north
and in Honan. Much of the region is under-
lain by rectmt calcartHHis alluvium, in
places with such strongly saline character-
istics as to render it unfit for agriculture.
This may pnMluce a white efflorescence.
All of North China has nuxlerately alkaline
soils. On account of the re|K*ate<l flcxxling
and high ground water, many soils lielong
to the unique shachiang tyjx\ with an
extensive developiiieiit of concretions at
the water table. The natural fertility is
miKierately high and has l>een maintained
through intensive fertiliaation.

Wlieat, the distinctive crop, does not
have the dominance characteristic of rice
in South (liina. Rict* can lx grown but the
water supply is ii.sually ina^lequate. No
other region in China raises such a variety
of crops. The grain sorghum kaoliang and a
%^ariety of millets are imixirtant summer
crops. Cotton and hemp are Icxally sig-
nifleant. Com is suryirisingly widespread.
Soybeans an<l many vegetables are widely
grown. Winter crops include wheat, barley,
and soybeans.

The agricultural studies of Dr. J. Ix^issing
Buck of the University of Nanking give
the following figures for this region: Over
60 per cent of the land in most districts is in
cultivation. Irrigatton is uncommon, gen-
erally under 10 per cent. Farmers who own
their land exceed 60 per cent. Thirty-nine

per cent of the cultivated land bears two
crops a year. The crop area per farm
amounts to 5.1 acres, and there are 6.1
people per farm family. The farm popula-
tion, excluding city dwellers, amounts to
1,165 per square mile of crop area. Such
data reflect the intensity of man's quest for
fcKxl.

It is the |XH)ple who everywhere give
character to the plain. No landscape is
devoid of their pre.scmce, and there is no
square inch of earth but has its impress of
repeaicxl toil. One cannot separate man
and the environment: tliey bidong to-
gether as intimately as a tree and the soil
from which it gniws.

When crops are normal few' farmers on
earth are more cheerful or contenteil. but
tcx> often the gtxKl earth is not gixxl.
Fafiiines, exet^ssive taxation, or civil unre.st
makes it diffirult b> accumulate a reserve
against distrc'ss. so that acute suffering is
periodic. The fart of all facts for the Yellow
Plain is excc*ssive ixifnilation.

Numerous cities dot the plain, some mere
market villages, others railway junctions
and industrial <vnlers. The largest and
finest is the ancient capital of Peiping,
fomierly known as Peking, or the northern
capital, liut renamtxl **iioriheni peace*’
in 1948. The city was fouiide<i in 940 under
the name of Venchirig, but the pnwiit city
pattern <lates from Kublai Khan. Over the
centuries the court at Peiping attracted the
finest craftsmen aiwl artists, the leading
sc'holars, nieirhanis, and fxiliticians. '^Tbeir
heritage remains, so that Peiping still
reprcfserits the finest in classical Chinese
eultun*. Beautiful t€*mples and palaces*
quiet courtyards wdth a profusion of flowers,
and a rich histfiry supply a setting for a
quality of life which is China at its best

Peiping oceuptes the logical postiioti for
the capital of an invading Mongol dynasty#
and equally so for pitrc?ly Chinese rulers
who are aittcerned with holding MongoUa*

Yellow Plain

103

The immediate site offers no particular
advantages, hut the city lies in a comer of
the Yellow Plain and commands Nankow
Pass, the easiest gateway through the
mountains to the Mongolian Plateau.

High walls divide Peiping into five parts.
The innermost was the Forbidden City
of the Emperor; around it was the Imperial
City for his Manchu retainers. These are
enclosed by the 50-foot walls of the Tatar
or Manchu City, within which is also the
foraier Legation Quarter. Immediately to
the south is the Chinese wall, built when
Chinese were not pennitted to live in the
main part of the city. The population of
Peiping numljerc'd 1,561, 0«7 in 1940.

The Yellow Plain lacks a satisfactory
seafK>rt. Except for the outer p<irtioiis of
the Shantung arul Liaotung [Kuiinsulas,
ilie seacoast of North China is a mud flat
IxirdertHl by shallow water. River mouths
all have submerged liars. Tientsin is by
far tile leading jKiri, but it is 40 miles from
the sc*a on the winding Itai Uiv'er. Farther
north is the artificial harlxir of (’hin-
wanglao, while in the southeast is the
|>artly develo|KH:l [xirt of Haichow.

Tientsin has grown to Ih^ a city of 1,£09,-
696 (1940) not Infausi* <if its advantageous
site but owing to the coiH|K‘lling needs of
its hinterland. Several rivers focus on
Tientsin, joining to ftirrn the Hai. Alter-
nately one or the other is in flood and
brings so much .HC'diment that the navigable
channel is chokcHl for months. A sand bar
at the niouth forevs nusliuni-sizeil ocean
vess4*ls to anchor out of sight of land. The
river frtH,‘»es in w’inter but is usually kept
ojK'n liy ic€' briTakers. By 1936, 16 million
cubit! yartls hatl Imui drinlged from the
river and an etpial amount from the bar.
^'ct in a few tlays of fltXKl deposition the
has l:R*eii raiscnl 5Ji fetd, anti 9 feet of
N€Hliment was once dejKisiUHl on the bar
iti 48 hours. The ycjar 1933 wa.s the best
‘>ne for shipping, wlum vessels crossed

the bar and 1,008 reached Tientsin. Of the
latter only 139 had a draft of over 13 feet.
The exports of Tientsin include wool from

Peipi.vo

Klevation, 131 average temperature, 53.1®F.;
total pre< ipiUtion, i4.9 inches. .VII climatic diagrams
in the hook are drawn on the same scale. Since the
base line for rainfall corresponds to 32®F., that part
of the year which is normally l>elow fn^ezing and
receives snow rather than rain can be notit'ed at a
glani'e.

Mongolia, hitles and skins, raw cotton,
eggs and egg products, and manufactured
articles such as rugs.

Other cities of the plain are Tsinan,
capital of Shantung, and Kaifeng, the
capital of Honan and once a capital of
China.

No other region south of the Great Wall
is so well supplied with railways, largely
built while the capital was in the north.
Lines radiate in four directions from the
Peiping-Tientsin area; south to Hankow
and Canton, west to Kalgaii and Paotow,
north to Mukden and Siberia, and south-
east to Nanking and Shanghai. The diffi-
culty of railw'ay construction across the
plain is shown in the latter line; since no
rock was available for Imllast, brick kilns
were built and fired with straw% and the
mad bed was ballasted with bmken brick.
Cart mads connect most towms, and dirt
automobile roads are niimemus.

104 Regwm of Nortii China

China's most famous line of communica- land. The latter was once an island in the
tion was the Grand Canal. The section Yellow Sea but has now been half sur-
across the Yellow Plain was built in the rounded by the advancing delta of the

Feipinf aiid TirnUto err the leading ctticit of the Yellow Plato and are «ummndrd by nounilnui farm vUlagea.

thirteenth century, more than a thousand Hwang River. The |K*iiifisiila is a region of
years after the part in the Yangtze* Plain, hills and mountains where level land is
On account of s<*asonal rainfall, it w*as limite<l.

difficult to keep the canal full of water. The geography <if the Shantung Peiiiii-
and many sections have Ik^ch out of com- sula resembles that of the Yellow Plain as
mission for decades. South of Tientsin to crops and way c»f life, but ivith mcKlthca-
the Grand Canal is partly a canaliml river tions due to unfavorable U>|K>graphy suid
which diverts water U) the Hai srhich would sligiitly greater rainfall. Many of the
otherwise flow directly to the sea, thus sieep<rr sIo{k*s are dcmudeil of their original
adding to the flood problem. The canal was soil cover, and forests are uncommon,
built to bring tribute rice to the court at Settlements lie chiefly in valley bottoms*
Peiping. or wdiere valleys open onto the plain.

Om fuel us livisl in Hhaiitung so that
Shantung Peninsula f**'^^*^* history is associated with the prov-

ince. The sevefity-fif»venih generation of bis
The province of Shantung is about descenflaiits still live here* under the name
equally divided between lowland and up- of Kung.

Loessland

105

Ancient sedimentary rocks, now altered, characteristic buildings with their red-
and complex igneous formations underlie tiled roofs still betray this bit of history,
the peninsula. Excellent bituminous coal It has a splendid harbor on Kiaochow Bay.

Scjilleml viiliigr# miirk<^ by clumpit of treeii on Ibe rolling hills of Shantung near Itu. {Cour1e»y Jame» Thorp.)

occurs in abtindancc. Elevations reach
5,056 feet in the sacreti mountain of Tai
Shan, but summits are generally under half
that hgure ebewhere. A lowland cuts across
the center of the peninsula and provides a
level route from the seaport of Tsingtao
to the capital at Tsinan.

Shantung owes some of its importance
to the possession of excellent harbors at
('hefoo and Tsingtao. The latter is the
rail U*rminus fora hinterland which includes
much of the central Yellow Plain. Tsingtao
was once a German outpost, and many

The population in 1985 amounted to
594,415.

Loessland

To the west of the Yellow Plain lies a
region of hills and mountains whose domi-
nant characteristic is the widespread occur-
rence of yellow wind-laid silt, known as
loess. ^

Ijoess is so fine a powder that when
rubbed between one’s fingers it has no
gritty feel. It is thus easily blown by the
wind and has been spread over the under-

106 Regions of North China

lying bedrock as though by a giant flour estimated at cubic miles. This is the
sifter. True loess is by definition a wind largest accumulation anywhere,
deposit; subsequent erosion and redeposi- The source of this loess appears to lie in

AurkuHtire in Kjuiau U divided betneen iW int^OJiive oUIisatinn of trriiiriktrf! vallvy iMilloiriM mmi
ettlifvalion on the dry termeed htIUtdc* whffv luirvetU depend on ibr varinhie niirifutl. { taurtrrtf Jamrs TAorp.)

tion by streams has resulUni in aceumu- the Ordos Desert, outside the (m*at Wall
laitoiis of water-laid silts which resemble and within the loop of the llw^ang. where
loess but which must Ik* calleil redeposited refloated defK)sition by the river has

supplieii large quantities of ladke and river
The thickness of the Ickss ranges from sefliments. These are an easy prey to the
nothing on steefi mountain slopes to a winter monmMin winds as tht^y blow out-
maximum of some 300 fec*t. Over wide areas wartl from cf*ntral Asia. Sand and coarser
the average is 10(1 or «00 feet. Similar materials lag iKhind. but the silt is lifletl
defMisitsoccur over the Vetlyw Plain, a here; aloft and e<imes to r€?st in the lionlering
th€*y art; mixed with stream alluvium, and grasslands of slightly greater rainfall. It is
in Sinkiang, but do not €*qual the develofi- sometimes supfioml that (liinese loess
ment in Ixiessland where loess covers origiiiateti from wind setiiir on the Mon-
110,000 square miles and has a volume gedian Plateau, but its distribution gives »o

Loessland

107

suggestion of such an origin. Most of the continue opposite Peiping as the Western
loess is strongly calcareous. Hills. The highest elevation in eastern

Loessland occupies the middle valley of Shansi is the sacred peak of Wutai Shan,

Msny «if the people in l>ie<Mliin(l live in raves, warm in winter and cool in summer but disastrous whenever
earthquakeft «>tvur. Adequate timber for nonnai house construction w not available. (J/o.)

the Hwang, with its two major tributaries, 9,971 feet high. In western Shansi, midw^ay
the Fen and the Wei. It includes all of between the Fen and the Hw'ang, are the
Shansi, tniich of Shensi and Kansu, and Luliang Mountains.

smaller fiarts of Chahar, Suiyuan, Xingsia, The adjoining province of Shensi is a
llonan« and llojw*i. IxH's.slaiid has an structural basin but topographically a dis-
area of t03,(KK) squan* miles aiui a |K)pu- sc^cted plateau, buried in loess. Beneath it
lation iif 44,000,000. This giv€*s an average lie vast reserves of high-grade coal. Eastern
density of ^ll jk'T squan* mile, in contrast Kansu is marketl by theLiiipan Mountains,
to 047 for tlu' Yellow Plain. vrith another kH'ss-filk^d basin to the west.

Mountains and Immd }»tatn*s divide Loess- The southern limits of Loessland border the
land into numeroii.s sulKiivisions. Ix‘vel towering Tsingling Mountains, while the
land is preseiii in et‘ntral Shansi along the north faces the desert plains of the Ordos
Fen Uiver and cxmtiiuies southwest wanl up and The (iobi.

rile valley of the Wei, (Kher liasins occur in liUirthquakes have been particularly
northern Shansi annind Tatung and near severe, as in I9t0 when great landslides
Kweihwa in Suiyuan. Along the eastern occurred on the loess hills of Kansu and
nmrgiii rise the Taiharig Mountains, which caiistHl the loss of 246,000 lives.

108 Regions of North China

In climate. Loessland is intermediate be- fall is adequate for normal hillside agri-
tween the aridity of Mongolia and the culture but more commonly partial crop
barely adequate nunfall of the Yellow failure is the rule. Moisture-conserving

CiilUvated tililtst every available pn>rtioii of this mKiwl loeftaUtMl near Ix»yaim;» Hcmai}.

{Courtrvif James Thorp.)

Plain. Rainfall in iiio«t areaii in about 15 techniques of dry farming are iiiwiMiary.
inches; less next to the desert and con- AIkiuI 175 lo €00 days are fmsl free,
sklerably more on the highest mountains. A Millet leails kaoliang as the chief summer
few forests remain in inaccessible areas, grain. Wheat is a w^inier crop except near
elsewhere tlie original vegetation was a the Great Wall where it is plantcsl in the
steppe grassland. Almost all of the precipi- spring. Cash crops include cotton, tolmcco,
tation occurs in summer, with half the total and considerable amounts of opium. Each
in July and August. Summer temperatures of these latter recjuires irrigation. Lanchow
seldom cxoccfd 85®F., but winter winds from grows exceptiotially fine apricots.

Mongolia bring three months with averages Cultivated land amounts to ft per cent
below freezing. Wide ^uctuations occur of Buck*s Winter Wheat- Millet area and IB
from year to year. In some seasons the rain- per cent in the Spring Wheat area, both m

Loessland

109

Loessland, in contrast to 68 per cent in his even higher than in the Yellow Plain, 1,^4
Winter Wheat'Kaoliang Area on the Yellow as compared with 1,165, despite a much
Plain. In the plains of the Wei and the Fen less favorable environment. In place of

Uotfrigiitisd in the \<mm hilh of central Shensi. Erosion is rapidly reducing the land available for

cultivation. {Arro-Survry^ comirsjf J, lA>Ming Buck,)

the intensity of cultivation equals that of room for settlement, emigration is called
the Yellow Plain. for, or at least a considerably increased

Few rcgionx in Chinn have such acute means of livelihood. Irrigation holds load
population pressure. Unfortunately some promise but is not possible on a large scale,
have assumed that this and other regions in Saline soils are common where the water
the northwest might be areas for coloni- table is high.

aation. On the contrary, the farm popu- Some of the earliest traces of Chinese
lation per square mile of cultivated land is culture are found here. noUbly around the

110

Regions of North China

city of Sian in Shensi, which was the capital
of the Han dynasty, 206 b.c. to a.d. 220.
Here was found the Nestorian Tablet,
eiwted in 781 to record the early penes
tration of Christianity. Several million
Mohammedans, of Persian and Turki
descent, hv^e in Kansu.

The chief cities are each provincial
capitals: Taiyuan in Shansi, 139,000 in
1934, Sian in Shensi with a |>opulation of

209.000 in 1939, Lanehow in Kansu with

178.000 in 1942, Xingsia, capital of the
province of the same name, and Kw'eihwa
in Sut>iian. Tw’o other cities command im-
portant gateways, Kalgan in the north next
to Mongolia, and Tungkwan on the Hwang
along the route to the Yellow' Plain.

Travel is restricted, for the dissected
topography makes roatl construction diffi-
cult. Most of the area is ItukcHi only by
trails. From Sian to I.anchow' extends the
famous ancient highway which le^l from
Peiping westward to Euro|K*, aiul over
which moved silk and porcelain in early
times. An automobile road now* follows it,
crossing the liujmn Mountains by a
9,00C>-f<M>t pass. Two railw^ays jKmetrate
the area: one in the north extends to
Paotow west of Kwiihwa, while in the
south the line to Sian has Ixtii extiiided to
Tteiishui in Kansu. One of these* will some
day reach Siiikiang anel provide a new
trans-Asia route. A m<Mleni auiomobtle
road leads south wani to Szechwan, crossing
the Tsingiifig Moun tains.

Manchurian Plain

In 1644 Manchu iriliesmeii invaded the
area south of the Great Wall and estab-
iishc^i the Mancliii <ly nasty which ruled
('liirta until 1911. The area from which they
came is known tmlay to Chinese as the
three easteni provinces— liaoiiing, Kirin,
and Heilungkiang — but U) foreigners as
Manchuria. Chinese merchants and farmers

have long lived in southern Manchuria but
under the Manchu dynasty immigration
was perioclically re.strieted. With the estab-
lishment of the republic all regulations on
colonization were removal and a great tide
of migration followed.

Because of fK>litical developments since
1931, it is well to fK)iiit out that this area
has iH^en an integral part of grifater (vhina
during most of the |>ast 2,000 years. In fact
China once held land north of the Amur
River. AlUiough onc*c adniinistereel as a
teiTilor>\ the thret* divisions listeel alxive
have had provincial status since 1907. To
the southwest is the province of Jehol,
originally a part of Inner Mongolia but
groujHHl with Manehoukuo** by the
Jaj>anesc* when that pup{K't state was
inauguratetl in 1932.

Manehuria has Imfii a craille of conflict
since* the eiul of the nineteenth century. In
1896 an agrt*<*nieiii was sigiif*i) with Russia
for the constnielion of the Chinese Eastern
Railway as a shf»rt cut for tlie Traiis-
Sil>eriari line to Vlaeliv'ostok. This was later
ameiidcHi to include a liranch sotilhw'ani to
Port .\rthur. The aclivitii*s of the Ruasiatis
in this area prtjvoked the Ru.Hse»-Ja|]»aneJie
War of 1904-1905, after whitdi Japan teiok
over the southeni |iart of the line? and
renamed it the South Manehuria Ratlw*ay.
In 1935 the Seniet Cnion sole! its rights in
the Chinese* Easteni to Japan.

Both eoqxirattrms were much more than
railways, for they jK>liccfd zones iie*veral
milc*s wide along the line, owne<l mines and
factories, built cities, o|M*rat<Hl postal
sy stern H, and were in effi't't sovereign s|iear*
heaels for their re«|Hetive f*<mritrie*s.

In aihliitoti to Ilussiati and Japanese
activity, many Cliinew railways have been
built, S4» that the re*gion is l»etii?r supplied
with irans|Mirtaiion than any other area in
Cbtita. The railway total it^aehed 6,000
miles ill 1940, more than all the rest of the
country iogeilier.

Manchurian Plain

111

On Sept. 18, 19S1, Japanese forces seized northeastern provinces, it is urgently
the city of Mukden and the next year set needed by the Chinese themselves,
up the deposed Manchu emperor as ruler If a Japanese Empire is to achieve com-

RcmmI building ha* ivern an important Japanese activity in the central plains of Manchuria. This hand>made
high way connects Hsinking with Kirin. {Courtesy Manchoukm Department of Foreign Affairs.)

of the kingdom of “Manchoukuo.” Since
this pup[>et state was not recognized by the
IJniUHl States or by the League of Nations,
Uie area is here referre<J to as Manchuria
and regardtHl as under Chinese suztTaiiity.
These northeastern provinces are over-
whelmingly Chine.se in race and culture and
occupy a signiheant jilace in (’hina*s
national consciousness. A sovereign China
will assuredly not rest until her political
con t red is secure.

It is clear that Japan's interests are com-
mercial and strategic rather tiian an outlet
for iiindus population. Ilespite extensive
efforts at colonization, the total numl>er of
Japanese on Maiichuriaii farms is only
100,000. China's population prf>blem is
quite as acute as that of Ja|>an, and insofar
zs undeveloped land still remains in the

plete geostrategic security with defense in
depth, she cannot rest until Siberia east of
Lake Baikal is hers. Manchuria is thus an
essential step in this direction. During the
period of Japanese occupation of Man-
churia, new railway construction was de-
signed to enable her to cut the encircling
Trans-Siberian Railway. Thus nine lines,
old and new, point toward Soviet territory.

The Manchurian Plain differs from the
Yellow Plain in that the latter is of deposi-
tional origin and thus amazingly flat, w^hile
the former is an erosional plain ^dth rolling
topography. Two river systems, those of
the Liao and the Sungari, divide it into a
southern and northern half. Prom north to
south the plain measures 600 miles, while
from east to west it is 400 miles. The area
of the region is 138,000 square miles.

lit Regions of North China

Except for three narrow gaps, the Man- of the river. To the west, a low portion of
churian Plain is everywhere surrounded by the Great Khlngan llange gives easy aocess
mountains. On the east are the Long White to Mongolia; in fact on old maps a part of

Piles of ipoybeeas etong the Sungsri River si Harbui. The bridge of the t'biiiete Kestrrti RiiUway is in the
bsckground with its fortrees lower to the right.

Mountains, to the north is the Little the we.slern and more arid Manchurian
Khingan llange, in the west are the Great Plain is lalHderi the Eastern Gobi. Within
Khlngan, while to the southwest are the this enclosure, nature has provided a most
mountains of Jehol. Between these uplands favorable environment and man in turn has
arc corridors to the outside world. develofxxl one of the most s|>ectacular

The valley of the liao in the south has a pioneer lands of the twentieth century.
75-mile frontage on the Gulf of Liaotung. Manchuria lies in the latitudes of the
A narrow strip of coastal lowland leads to northern United States and southern Can-
the Yellow Plain at Shanhaikwan where the ada. Dairen corresponds to Baltimore,
Great Wall reaches the sea. This coastal Mukden is on the parallel of Albany,
avenue of invasbn may be likened to Harbin matches Montreal, and the northern
Thermopolae in Greece. In the northeast border along the Amur River reaches the
the Sungari enters the Amur lowland along latitude of southern Hudson Bay. This sug-
a valley where hilU close in on either side gests similar climatic ctindilions, but the

The Afiihfiii irooworks fK>uth of Mukden were developed by Japan as their principal base of heavy industry
on the continent. Successive enlargements raised Anshan to an important place among world steel centers.
(fWrtesy South iianehuria Railwaif.)

iH'gins to fall in the north in late September Owing to the natural cover of grass, soils
aii<i in the south a month later; it con- are the most fertile of any area in China, ^
ti rules until mid-April in the south and with an extensive development of chemo-
niid*May in the north. Monthly averages stem and chestnut-brown soils. Some saline
are Ik*Iow freezing fn>m November through and alkali soils appear in the drier areas.
March. Central Manchuria often has Janu- Good empty land has brought tens of
ary minimum terajKTatures of — 80®F., millions of farmers, often a million a year,
while August maxima rise to 95®F. Fre- Thus the population of the three provinces
quent weather changes are related to the and the Japanese leased areas amounting
passage of cyclonic storms. Thus winter to 14,917,000 in 1910 rose to 525,206,000 in
nioiiths characteristically have ** three cold 1926, and to 44,459,524 in 1940 (including
and four mild*’ days in succession. Only Jehol). Many of these settlers have gone
150 to 175 days are frost frc^. to the pioneer fringe where they have

Freeipitaiion is seasonal, with light plowed new land, formerly the home of the
winter snowfall, a dry spring and fall, and nomad.

concentrated rain in July and August. The Crops resemble those grown elsewhere in
amount decreases from 25 inches in the east North China but are raised in larger fields
15 inches in the west, so that agriculture and with a surplus for export. Nowhere else

114

Regiom of North China

is the yield so large per person; hence living
standards arc higher. In the north, wheat
and soybeans predominate; in the south the

crops are more diversifie<l with kaoliang,
millet, soyl)eans, coni, and wheat the most
important. In 1049, Manchuria grew 00 per
cent of the world’s }M>ybeans, and their
export supplie<l the l>asis for coiisi<ierable
prosjKTity.

Large areas remain uncultivatc^i, but
they are in the far north where the growing
season Is short or in the extreme west whert?
aridity creates a peril. Another undeveloped
area lies in the extreme northeast in the
Amur Valley along the lower Sungari an<l
Ussuri. Thus area resembles the Amur low--
land of SiWria rather than the Manchurtan
Flaiii, with swamp and mea^Joadand and a
rigorous climate.

The mineral wealth of Matichiiria is
inferior to that of the rest of C'htria, but
su{)erior to that of Japan. Estimates of eoal
resen^cs have been increase<l to 40,000,-
000,000 tons, and prcKiiiction in 1941
amounted to approximately 40,000,000.
Most of this comes from the Fushun de-
porits, near Mukden, which have the thick-
est bed of bituminous coal in the world, no

less than 417 feet. Fuel oil is obtained from
associated oil shales, with a projected
capacity of 1,000,000 tons in 1941.

Avemgr trtuprniturv. S7.1S*F.

Iron ore is available at .\n.Hhaii, where
tlie Shows Steel \Vork.s has several blast
furnaces rep4»rte<I to have a 1941 cajiacity
of 1,750,000 tons of pig iron and 1,000,000
tons of slcnd. In the Eastern Maiichiiriaii
I’plands, two furnaces are hjK!atf?<l at
Penhsibu, an<l new rich dejM^sits have
lieen locatc'd near the Korean iH^nler at
Tungfueritao. Liiuuiing |•rf>viIlce txiiiiaiiis
nearly ihree-fmirlhs of ('liina's known iron
ore dc|Kisits.

As jMirt of her program of a (freater East
Asia C’o-pnjsjH‘rity Sphere, Japaneses in-
vestments ill Maiichtiria atnoutiie<l to five
billion yen by 1941. have brought

few financial dividends but have had stra-
tegic value.

All Ihe cities are of rc^cenl growth. The
only s4*a|iort in the plain is Yingkow at the
mouth of the shallow Liao, whose popula-
tion fiumlieretl I80.h7l in 1940. Whereas
this was the largest jKirt of Manchuria prior
to 1907, it is now greatly outdistanced by
Dairen on the l4a4»tung |>entnsula, and

Thi* (*h4ii)fp«i Shun in enstc^m Manchuria along the line of the railway from Hainking to Rashin. These moun-
tains are largely covertnl a ith splendid mixed forests. {Courtesy South Manchuria Railway.)

The thm* chief citie.s of the Plain lie
ahing the niaiti railway, Mukden, llsiiiking,
and Ilarhiii. Mukden Is at the junction of
the lines to Peiping aiul to Korea. It is the
capital of Liaoning Pnivince and include.s
an old walleti city and a newer area around
the South Manchuria liailway station in
the Jafiarieia* aoiie. The 1940 (lopulatioii
was 1,135,801, double that of 1936 on ac-
count of the dev'elopmeiit of light industry.
One-tenth of the |H)pulation w'-as Japanese.
Hsitiking, known to the Chine.se as (’hang-
<’hun, was maile the capital of Manehoukuo
foul has grown rapidly. It had a 1940 i>opu-
lation of 544, of whom 100,000 were
’lapanese. llsitikiiig is the rail junction for

Sungari River and is the junction of the line
south to Dairen. Streamlined express trains
link these cities in l^}4 hours. The popu-
lation in 1940 was 661,984, of w’hom some
35,000 vrere Russians. The coal city of
Fushun had *269,919 people in 1940, while
the steel city of Anshan had 213,865.

Kojttem Manchurian Uplands

Uplands border the Manchurian Plain on
almost all sides. Those on the east, north,
and southwest are forested, while aridity
gives rise to a grass cover in the west.
Agricultural settlement has penetrated well
into the eastern and southern mountains
but those in the west are still the home of

Tbe rmilumy between Mukden nnd Antung cuti Utmugli tbe m>utKerti jpert of tbe tuounUiiiie of EaMerii

Mmnebum. (ComrUwif Smtth Mamekmria Hailu^n.)

extend 850 miles from the Liaotung Pen-
inmila northeast nearly to the junction of
the Amur and the Lssuri and are but *00
miles wide, conditions naturally differ. The
south has a mild climate, all level land is
intensively utilized, and the forests are
deciduous, while the north is an unde-
veloped coniferous wildemess.

The Eastern Manchurian (Uplands have
the finest forests in China with large re-
serves of excellent Korean pine, spruce,
larch, elm, birch, oak, and hr. This timber
is rafted southward along the Yalu River
to the port of Antung or westward on the
Sungari to Kirin. Pur4iearing animals are
trapped in the more mountainous areas.

Mukden to Korea, in the center is tlie line
from Hstnking via Kirin to the new jKirt of
Kashin in northern Korea, while farther
north b the (4titiese Eastern from Harbin
to Vla<livostok. Several other railways pro-
vide grKxl access.

The rainfall is more abundant than in
the Manehuriaii Plain, with as much as
40 inches of rain and snow in the higher
areas. Where the land is sufUeienUy level
for cultivaiion, agrietillure is thus more
favorable* Soybeans, millet, wheat* wwl
kaoliang are the erojia. Many Koreans have
pushed across the Girder and are eii|pi#?<l
in raising rice, eapectally in the Chientao or
Yenki disirtci.

Khingan Mountains

117

Coal is present ail along the western was leased to Japan in 1905 as the Kwan-
margin of the region, and large iron reserves tung Leased Territory,
occur in the south and in the east. Prospects Antung lies near the mouth of the Yalu,

The Tumeo River fonn* the frantter between Manchuria and Korea. (Courtajy South Manchuria hailway.)

arc es()ectally favcirable in the Tungjiicntao
(li«trict near Korea where the Japanese have
(ievelopetj an important iron and steel
industry with an 8<K),000-ton capacity,

llie highest elevations occur in the Long
White Mountairia or Chang|>ai Shan along
the Korean frontier, where tlie volcanic
I>c*ak of Paitou Shan with a crater lake rises
to B.mo feet.

The leatling city i» Dairen at the tip
(d the Liaotung peninsula, the major
seaport for all of northeasteni China. When
the liuMians first came to the area, I^>rt
Arthur was their chief Imse but the Japa-
nejH» emphaaiaed Dairen and ma^le it into a
splendid |K>rt. The population in 1939
»»«inl)ered The surrounding area

opposite Korea; it had a 1940 population
of 315,242. Kirin is the capital of the
province of the same name, with a pK>pula>
tion which numbered 173,624 in 1940. The
only other center of importance is the coal
and steel town of Penhsihu,

Khingan Mountains

Although tlie uplands that border the
Manchurian Plain on the north and west
cover 168,000 square miles, their economic
importance is slight. The elevations are
commonly under a mile but the local relief
is less than 1,000 feet. Along a north-south
axis is an area known as the Great Khingan
Range, sometimes spelled Hsingan. Toward
tlie south this is largely the upturned edge

118

Refficm^ of North Chino

of the Mongolimi Plateau; farther north
the region widens and is less jierfectJy
known. The LittJe Khiug&n Ilange parallels
the Amur River from the Sungari to its
tribuiar>% the Noniii.

North of the Chinese Eastern Railway
the Khingan Mountains have a Siberian'-
type larch and birch forest; to the soulb
is a MongoUan-iy|>e stepjK'. There is little
agriculture, and the few si»t tiers art‘ lunilxT-
men, hunters, or j>aslt»ralists.

JeJtoi Mountains

The province* of Jehol is at the eastern-
most end of what was onet* IniUT Mongolia.
Although it lies outsi<le the Gr(»at Wall,
it is essc’iitially C'hinese in culture, and its
pmximity to Manchuria has given it less
and less of a Mongolian orientation.
Nomadic tribes and l^ma tern|>les fiersisl
in the west.

The geographic rf‘gion here descrilml

iiidudes the hills and motintatni that make
up most of the province. These resemble
Shantung in their ruggediiess but have a
niorf* continental climate with Mongolian
winters. The higher areas were once forestcHl
and fornu*es.

The to|>ography is so unfavorable that
the only actress to mo.st areas was by trail.
New automobile roa^ls and a railway fnmi
Manchuria to Peiping via the capital at
Chengtc'h have change<i this,

(\>al and some oil are prtKiuce<l along the
eastern margin. The crops include millet,
kaoliang, and spring wheat. Ofiitim is
widi'ly grown, as is common in the less
aecf‘ssible areas of interior (^hina where
expensive lransfM>rtatioii makes it iit*ees-
sary to grow c'ash cn>p.s that are €*asily
ship{>€si.

Chapter 7

REGIONS OF SOUTH CHINA

South China belongs to the humid sub- smaller and cultivation more intensive so
tropics, wiUi summer monsoon rainfall, that the net income per farm family is only
Winters are short and cool rather than cold; slightly higher.

for tile rcK»fs rather than thatch.

snow is almost unknown. The amount of For all of Agricultural China, tlie surveys
rainfall is 40 to 80 inches, so that the land- of J. Lossing Buck show an average of 0.45
scape is always green. FIockI, drought, and acre of crop area per farm per^n; for his
famines are uncommon. This is a land of Rice Province of the South the figure is 0.37
rice, with much less diversification than in while in Ae Wheat Province of North China
the wheat-millet-kaoliang region of North the acreage is 0.56 acre. If all crops are
China. Along with rice culture go flooded converted into the equivalent of grain and
fields, often terracetl. and water buffalo, if all laborers are put on a uniform work
Two crops are raised a year, but farms are basis, the average annual yield for South

140 Regions of South China

China is 1,520 kilograms per person in
cx>ntrasi with 1331 for North China. The
average for all China is 1,303, as oompaied
with 20,000 kilograms for the United
States writh its mechaniae<i fanning.

The boundary l>eiween the North and
the South is clearly marked by climate,
natural vegetation, soil, crops, and culture.
In general, it follows the crest of the
Tstngling Mountains and their eastern
extension; near the coast it lies along the
Uwai River whose southem tributaries
drain riceland while the northern tribu*
taiies flow through fields of kaoliang and
millet.

Both the North and the South are domi-
nantly rural, and the cities in each region
exist for commerce rather than for modem
industry. On the whole. South China has
larger and more modem cities.

Seven regions are present in the South,
the Yangtae Plain, the Sxechwan Basin,
the Central Mountain Belt, the South
Yangtae Hills, the Southeastern Coast, the
Canton Hinterland, and the Southwestern
Uplands.

Vangtse Plain

Water is the key to the geografihy of the
Yangtae Plain. On either side of the river
is a network of canals, and in several areas
there are large lakes. Transport is by river
steamer and junk, or by launches and
canalboats. Since rice is the charaeteristic
crop, most 6elds are fl<KKlc*d for half the
year. This is a green w^orld, very different
from the brown landscafMrs of North China.

Tlie \angtae Plain has 900 people per
square mile, and 70 p<*r cent of the area is in
cultivation. Both these figures are the
highest of any region in China, ayd l>etray
the intensity with which man crowds this
fertile lowland. The region lacks compact-
ness, but it has coherence. The shafie is
irregular since botindaries follow the flood
plain. From east to west the diiriance is fiOO

miles, but from north to south the width
varies from 20 to 200 miles. The area is
75,000 square miles and the population
numbers some 68,000,000.

Wliereas many characteristics are com-
mon throughout, the region may be sub-
divide<l into the delta below Wuhu and
the flood plains and lakelands of the middle
Yangtze. The delta occupies most of the
province of Kiarigsu and |>art of Chekiang.
The middle Yangtze lies in Anhwei,
Kiangsu, and the twin pmvinces of Hupei
and Hunan. These latter lake their name
from the Tungting Hti, or Lake, with
respect to which they lie north and south.

.\lthough the Vangiae is comparable in
length to the Hwang, it flows through a
region of three times the rainfall and carries
much more water. During the 1931 flood
the Yaiigtxe sent a volume of 2,800,000
cubic feet jmt .seet>nd past Hankow, as com-
pared with a mean afiniiai discharge of

I, 047,500 cubic ftns*! per second at Wuhu.
This flood inundaifHl 34,000 square miles,
as compared with an area of 25,000 square
miles floocieii by the Mississippi in 1927.
Fortunately disastrtnis floods are rare. This
is in part lK*caiise of the storage capacity
provided by the marginal lakes such as the
Tungting, Poyang. and Tai, and the net-
work of Kirialler waterways. Unlike the
Hwang, the \'angtar is not overloaded and
is aide to cany' its burden c»f scHiiitieiit to
the sea. This load amounts to 600.000,000
tons a year, and its deposit ton in the ilelta
is advancing Uie shore line one mile every
70 years.

Much of the '^"angtsc* Platri is ge€>logieally
so young that the land is not yet much
above sea level. Even at Ichang in the far
west, the elevation of tlie river is but 295
feet. The river gauge lero at Hankow is only

II. 94 feet above that at Woosung outside
Shaiii^at, 630 miles to the east. The lueoit
annual variation at Hankow is S4.T fuel.
On the seawarrl margin, man has buill

Yangtze Plain

dikes to reclaim the land as soon as it
appeared above the level of low tide. The
large lakes that lie on either side of the
river represent unfilled parts of the original
lowland. When the Yangtze rises in
summer, often 50 feet or more, these lakes
are filled by back water from the river.
The Tungting Lake then has a size of 50 by
75 miles and the Poyang is nearly as large.
During the winter the basins become almost
dry. The Tai l^ake in the delta varies less in
size and is roughly 40 by 40 miles. Com-
parable lakes are present along the lower
Hwai River.

The Yangtze provides a splendid avenue
of communications. Next to the Rhine it
may l>e the busiest river in the world.
Where islands divide the river, there are a
few troublesome sand bars; elsewhere the
channel is sufficiently deep for ocean
steamers of 4,000 tons to reach Hankow,
630 miles upstream, at all seasons, and for
10,000-ton boats in summer. This inland
|K>rt normally handles 5 per cent of China’s
foreign trade. River boats easily reach
Ichang at the foot of the gorges, 1,000 miles
from Shanghai.

Three major tributaries join the Yangtze
within the region. On the north tliere is the
Han, at whose mouth is Hankow. On the
Month there are the Siang, which flows
through Tungting l^ke, and the Kan,
which r<*aches the Yangtze via the Poyang
I-»ake. Each of these has its own lowland
plain which forms further sulxlivisions of
the region as a wdiole.

No area in the world has such a network
of canals. Most of them are navigable for
small iKiats, and these watenvays are the
roads of the region. Their total length has
been variously guessed but greatly under-
eMtimated. They are especially abundant
^^outh of the Yangtze and east of the Tai
l^ke. In one measured square mile, which
«Pt)ears representative, they have a total
b*ngth of «7.8 miles, with an average spac-

121

ing of 380 feet. Many of these are navigable
for small farm boats. The mileage in this
small part of the delta may thus approxi-

Soores of villages in the YangUe Delta are inter-
sected by canals. These waterways provide for
transportation, irrigation, araste disposal, and do-
mestic water supplies. {CourUty U.S, Bureau of
Agricultural Economics,)

mate 150,000 miles, and for the region as a
whole there may be a quarter to half a
million miles of navigable w’aterways.

Climatic conditions provide a growing
season of 300 days free from frost, so that
at least two crops a year may be raised.
Since rainfall lines in this part of China
extend nearly east and west, the region
has a fairly uniform rainfall of 40 to 50
inches. From March through August the
rainfall amounts to 5 inches a month, with
a maximum in June. January and Decem-
ber are the only months with less than
2 inches. Fall and winter are the most
pleasant seasons with clear skies and

Regimta of South China

average temperatures below from lowlands of Java, and the lower Ganges

October through February. Summers are Plain.

oppressively hot and humid. Shanghai Tiny fields are the rule, the result of

Wmnahtmmm of tlie poorer type tn KisngMi. In tbi» distrii't the prim’ipal mip» are wheat, cotton, and barley.

{CotKriftejf Jamts Tharp,)

obser^'ations give a July temperaiurf mean
of 98®F. and a humidity of S4 jM*r cent.
During the summer of Shangliai

experienceil €1 consecutive days each with
a maximum over 100®F., awhile for 60 days
the daily maximum averagetl OT^F.

Although the Yangtze Plain has a larger
number of important cities than elsewhere,
three-<|uarters of the people are farmers.
Noa'here in the world is the land more in-
tensively utilised. Many districts have a
farm population in excess of £,600 per
square mile. Only five areas in Asia dupli-
cate this eongestion: the C'bengtu Plain in
Ssechwan, the area around Ouiion, the
Kwanto Plain centering on Tokyo, the

refH‘ate<l sulxli vision through inheritance.
IkfcauHc* of the meticulous care, cmp yields
are large fK*r a<Te, but on account of the
excessive lalxir required the return is low
per person. (*bina*s agricultural problem is
not so much to tncrt*ase the* total harvest as
to raise* the [ler capita yield. Rice* is the
standarfi summer crop, with wheat, beans,
and Iwtrley as the chief winter mips. Winter
errops are more common than elsewhere in
South China, with 6£ per cent according to
Buck*s siir\'eys in the Yangtze Rice-' Wheat
region. Vegetables arc widely raised. Water
buffalo and oxen are the characteristic
farm animals.

Yangtze Plain

123

The two distinctive crops are cotton and modernize her methods, but the domestic
silk, both produced more extensively here production probably leads the world,
than in any other part of (!hina. Cotton is The Yangtze Plain has at least eight

Sluinsbiii dotii 11)11 the Yaniflw Delta. Nanking. Soochow, and Hangchow arc also of importanoe.

incrt^asiiigly iiiiiMirlant in the delta, with cities whose jx)pulation exceeds 500,000,
large mills in Shanghai. Fully a third of and at least a dozen more of over 100,000.
(Iiina’s cotton h grown in this region. Some More than elsewhere these are semi-
of the finest silk in the world i.s pniduced in modernized cities with extensive world
the immediate hinterland of Shanghai contacts.

where a quarter of the land is locally Shanghai is great because in its hinter-
devoU^d to inulbt'iry cultivation. Silk is land lives one-tenth of the human race,
obtained fitim cocoons .spun by the silk- No other city dominates such a market,
worm which in turn is fed on mulberry nor is it apt to have a rival. Shanghai is
leaves. China has lost mo.Ht of her exjiort the entrepot for the Yangtze and occupies
market for silk through unwillingness to the only feasible site for a modem port

124

Regions of South China

nesT its mouth. Even though new outlets up the winding Whangpoo River. Exten-
develop yis Indo-China, Burma, or Can- sive dredging has provided a 81-foot
ton* the trade of Shanghai will doubtless channel up the Whangpoo, but enormous

Industrial Sbangluu receives lU elecirii* power from liib SOO.OOO-kilowatl pUnt, operated o« cowl from north
China and elsewhere. (Cbtnfray Skmtfkai P&wrr Vo.)

increase eyen faster than any diversion.
No other Chinese jiort is so close to Japan,
and the location midway along the coast
is a commercial advantage. The population
of 8,708,430 in 1040 is over twice the sice
of her closest rival, Peiping. Shanghai
ranks next to Tokyo as the largest center
in Asia, and holds seventh place among
world cities.

Wlien the city was opened to foreign
trade in 1848, it was alrearly one of the
busiest ports of China, although entirely
devoted to domestic commerce. Since then
its growth has l>een pht^iiomenal. Shanghai
has prospered, owing in part to geography
and in part to the economic security pro-
vided by the International Settlement.
When trade dourtshed in the interior, it
brought business to Shanghai or, when
civil warfare gripped the country, people
and wealth sought refuge here.

The wide mouth of the Yangtse does not
provide a suitable location for a harbor.
Instead Shanghai lies 14 miles to the south

sand bars in the estuary of the YangUse,
known as the Fairy Flats, have a low-water
depth of only 18 fc»et. The site of the city
is a mud flat, barely alKive high tide, with
no bedrock for at least 1,000 feet down.
On this foundation have been built 24-story
buildings, some of the tallest outside the
Americas.

Metro{Kditan Shanghai is made up of
three areas: the c*ommeiTial ari*a of the
In tenia tioiial Settlement, the largely resi-
dential French Concession, and the sur-
rounding ('hinese? areas triciudiiig the old
once-walle<l native* city. .\s the city grows,
it will protiably gravitate iiortliward toward
the Yangtze,

Shanghai is primarily a eommerctal city,
with industry defarndent ufion foreign
contacts rather than local raw materials.
Oitton and silk are the only resources
produced in the iriime<liate htfiteriand.
Nearly half of China's imfiorts and exports
pass through Shanghai each year and,
despite the absence of near-by resources*

The Szechwan Basin

126

the city has accounted for almost half of
all China’s industry. Among world ports,
Shanghai is exceeded in tonnage of ships

JFMAMJJASOND

Shanghai

Eievmtion. 8S feet; average temperature, S»®F.; total
preeipitation. 45.8 inches.

entering only by New*York, London, Kobe,
San Franci.sco, Liverpool, Los Angeles,
Hongkong, Antwerp, Hamburg, and Rot-
ic'rdam (19S5), No other port in China has
such extensive steamship connections. The
city is thus China’s cultural front door.
During the |>eriod prior to the Second
World War, the foreign [xipulation of
Shanghai included some 75,000 foreigners
among whom were nearly 5,000 Americans.

Five hours southwest of Shanghai by
rail is Hangchow, while two hours to the
west is S<K)chow, linked in the ('hiiiese
exj>rcs,sion “Heaven above, Soochow and
Hangchow Ik‘Iow,’’ Hangchow is famous
for its iH^autiful .scenery and ScKichow for
its iH^autiful women. Their p<jpu)ations are
576, (KM) (19»5) and 689.000 (1966), respw-
tively. To the east of Hangchow are
Shaohing and NingjMi, each with over a
quarter of a million [>eople.

Nanking became the capital in 1928, in
response*' to Uie earlier suggestions of Sun
Yat-sen. It was also the seat of government
during the Sung and Ming dynasties before
U16, but most signs of its former mag-
niheence are gone except the name, “south-
ern capital.” New boulevawls and modern

government buildings were beginning to
modernize the city prior to the Japanese
occupation in 1937, when its population

JFMAMJJASOND

Hankow

Slevation, 118 feet, average temperature, SSa^.;

frktnl nrM»irktt«tirkn AS ft innliMi

exceeded a million. The city lies on the
Yangtze 200 miles northwest of Shanghai
with railroad connections to Shanghai,
Tientsin, and westward.

Hankow and its twin city of Wuchang
across the Yangtze dominate central China.
Railways lead north to Peiping and south
to Canton. Hankow’s water traffic not only
follows the Yangtze east and west but also
leads northwestward up the Han and south-
westward through Tungting Lake to the
Siang River. Hankow^ is (he more modem
city, with buildings along the water front,
or Bund, that rival those of Shanghai.
Wuchang is the capital of Hupei prov-
ince, In 1940 the population of Hankow
amounted to 804,526, w'hile Wuchang had
about half that number. Together with
nearby Hanyang, the three cities are col-
lectively known as Wu-Han,

The Szechvmn Basin

The tragic war with Japan had the ad-
vantage of compelling China to rediscover
its own west. Until the arrival of Europeans
along the coast a century ago, China had
faced toward inner Asia, and the interior

1«6

Regiom of South China

provinces were of major importance. Owing lation density within the region is thus 580
to the lack of modern transportation, per square mile, highest of any region that
Ssechwan, Kansu, and the rest of western is not a plain.

A iMtnboo Imiigr mcrtmm thr Min River in i*ei«tem Sf»*<’hwan. {CnurtfMif Hohrrf ftlrh.)

China did not share in the nicxleriiisaiion llie Hzeehwari Basin is a land of hills
that has characteriz<'<l Shanghai, Tientsin, and low nioiiiiiains, cut by swift rivers
Canioii, aiifl their ctmstal pn>vifK*es. The flowing thnnigh sleep-shletl valleys. Be-
land bcfhind the gorges remained as it had nifath the region are mift shales and saitii-

t>een. When the sealsiard was overrun by stones of Oelacetius age which are purfde

the Jafmnese, Free C*htna emerg«?il in the or in some placets red in CTolor. It is these
Far W’esl. I'he basin of Szechw^an is the which hsl von Hiehtoferi to call this the
most notable of these rf»vtialt9M*d arenas. licsl Basin.

Szechwan is the most fKipuloiis of China's Central Szechwan is a structural lauiiti
provinces, with a 1030 total of 5^,706J10 with numerous shar{i anticlines and gentle
people. Of this numl>er, mime 43,0OO,(KK) synelines, trending muglily northeast to
live within tlie gecigraphie liasiri. In area, southwest Much of the area was once a

this is one of the largt^st provinces, exccH-ded peneplain at a height near the present hill-

only by Kansu among the ongituil 18 south lops. As strv^anis became eniretiched.

of the Great W’all. Out of a total area of hardf*r anticltnal areas of limestone and
150,075 scfuare miles the Szechwan Basin saiidsUitie remained as ridges. Fails and
occupies about 75,000 square miles; the re- rapids mark the ouiatifi of these forma-
mainder is motiniatiious. Tlic? average popu- lions along the streams and aifcounl for

The Szechwan Basin

127

the gorges that characterize many tribu- north, and there is a January average of
taries. Several terrace levels are present in 50®F. and a July average of 80®F. The

TerT#«* Innds alutig llie Htreatu^ of Sieei hwan are Irrigated by water wheels turned by the force of the current.

iiuijit valleys. The only level area is the
alluvial fan around Cheiigtu.

Elevations witli the river gauge zero
along the Yangtze decrease from 820 feet at
Pingshan in the west to 590 feet at Wanh-
sien in the east. Elsewhere the region is
generally under 2,000 fwt in height.
Szc*ehwan takes its name from the “four
rivers’* that drain into the Yangtze. These
are the Min which enters the Yangtze at
Suifu, the Lii at Luchow, the Chialing at
Cluingking, and the Wu from Kweichow^.

The climate of Szechwan has numertms
surprising features. Although far in the
interior and sunt>unde<l by imposing mo^-
tains, the rainfall is nearly 40 inches and
the seasonal extremes are small. Winters
*^rely have snow or (ronU except in the

frost-free period is 325 days. Cold Mongol-
ian air is kept out by the barrier of the
Tsingling Mountains to the north. The
province has a great deal of cloud and mist,
so that the humidity is high. Rain may fall
gently for several days in winter yet the
amount be too little to record; summer
months have thundershowers. After the
summer rains the level of the Yangtsse may
rise 75 feet, and twice that in the gorges.
Sacred Mt. Omei, 10,145 feet, at the western
cKige of the region recorded 311 inches from
August, 1932, to September, 1933. Despite
its location, 600 miles from the ocean, this
is the heaviest precipitation of any station
in the country.

Agriculture is thus carried on under
favorable circumstances, although the thor-

Hie toil faiuisloiie hiUi of llie SsediwMi Bmsii m eslentiwly termceti for thr eitlittmticm of tut. (Coyrtrr^
Ckima imUrmaiiomal l^wetiie Rriirf ( ommuMmum.)

cultivated. The Sxechwan liamn grown a
greater variety of crops than elnewherc,
with both the wheats millet, and com of the
North, and the rice, rapeneed, and sugar
cane of the South. Ilice is the usual summer
crop wherever water is available for irriga-
tion; it is planted in April or May and
harvested in Scpteml>er. Sweet iiotaioes
are important on the dry hilltops. Wlieat is
a winter crop. Silk and tea are widely
produced, together irith some cotton,
tdbacco, and opium before 1041. Tung oil
is a major export to the Unite<i States,
where it is used as a quick drier in varnish.
Citrus fruits are grown south of the
Yangtse.

Buck found in his Ssechwan Rice Area,
which includes more than the basin, that
crop yields were 8 per cent above the
national average, with 75 bushels of rice
and fS bushels of wheat per acre. The farm

mon* than half the fcKKl eiierg}\ with one-
seventh from cxirn.

'rhe lanfi-scajM* of tlie S»[*chw*an Basin is
made diHlinrlive by the w^idesjinwl ter-
racing. Other regions are as gr<*eii and in-
tensively develo[i€»il, but nowheit* else is so
much land terractfl. In fact, nowhere else
exc#.»pt in IxM^sslaiid is it so easy to con-
struct terTact‘s, for the bedrock is horisontal
and soft. \*ariatiotis in hardfic^ss pnidiice
many natural terraces. Even 45® slofies
have tiny steps of level land. Water wheels
line the swifter streams anil lift irrigation
water bi the fields as th€*y are tunied by
the current. Elsewhere water is obtained
by chain pumfis, often o|ieratecl by water
buflfalo. Clusters of trees and Immboo sur-
round the houses, witli many banyan,
cy|>ress, pines, and some oaks and paltiis.
Few jmrts of China are so ht||^ly praised
for their beauty.

Central Mountain Belt

Beneath the surface occur extensive de-
posits of salt and coal, together with some
iron ore. Natural gas is also present. During
the war with Japan coal production was
greatly ihcreased, so that the 1940 output
amounted to metric tons, largely

from the basins of the Chialing, Min, and
To rivers. Pig iron similarly rose to about
50,000 metric tons. Copper was produced to
the extent of 500 tons, and gold amounted
to nearly 100,000 ounces. Modern industry
is largely confined to the vicinity of
Chungking.

The most 8p€?ctacular aspect of Free
China’s development was the removal of
the capital from Nanking to Chungking,
and the subsequent rebuilding and repeated
bombing of that city. Chungking is nearly
1,400 miles up the Yangtze. The city occu-
pies a strategic site on a high hill where the
Chialing River joins the Yangtze. The
original city w^all dates from 320 b.c., and
the city is sometimes referred to by its
early name of Fahsien. Suburbs have
spread outside the w’all, as well as across
lK>th rivers. The population of the munici-
pality amounted to 882,480 in 1943. Since
the city itself covers only four square miles,
there are at least 70,000 jwr square mile
within the wall. New roads have l>een cut
through the old city and modern buildings
up to seven stories in height have taken
the place of the old. Prior to 1927 there
was not a wheeled vehicle inside the city
wall and not many 81^*018 wndc enough for
them; today there are thousands of auto-
fiiobiles as well as rickshas.

Chungking is the commercial center of
the province, an<l its geographic setting
will make it continue to grow after the
capital is removed back to Nanking.

The second city of the Szechwan Basin
is Chengtu in the far west, within sight of
the Great Snowy Mountains of Tibet,
(hengtu is on the alluvial plain of the Min,
near where it leaves the “Azure Wall”

129

of mountains. This plain has an area of
1,730 square miles and a population of
3,700,000, a density of 2,150 people per

80*
Ttr
6 CP
5(r
40*

32*

JFMAMJJASOND

Cbungkino

Average temperature, 64.84*^?.

square mile. Few other spots on earth are
so fertile and productive, in part owing to
a remarkable irrigation system. Chengtu is
rich in history and culture, but wnth limited
modem developments. Its population was
about 509,733 in 1944.

The great problem of the Szechwan
Basin has been difficult transportation,
both internally and especially to the rest
of China. Steamships on the Yangtze date
from 1898 but freight rates are very high.
Automobile roads now lead north to
Shensi and Kansu, and south to Kweichow.
Most domestic freight still moves by river
boat.

Centred Mountain Belt

Between the Yangtze and the Hwang is
a mountain zone which accounts for the
abrupt contrasts between dry North China
and the humid South. Toward the west the
mountains are Tibetan in character; near
the latitude of Nanking where they die out
they have become mere hiUs. The northern
slopes are dry but once the crest is reached
monsoon rains result in forests and rice
culture. This is the southern limit of
loess and the northern boundary of exten-
sive rice, tea, mulberry, and bamboo.

130

Regiom of South Chitia

This region is part of the Kuen Lun
Mountain system which originates far to
the west in the Pamirs. Where the range

A mnyon in tinr TiiingliiiK; M»unt«ifi.fi of
Sbenmi. Tfit* ransi* is the fiia jor divnlins lin** WtwttMi
the Sorih nod the South. {Haifitp norurfeny

Carmfie ItutUmtian,)

enters China in southeni Kansu it is known
as the Min Mountains and rises to tO.OOO
feet; farther east in Shensi elevations are
over 10,000 feet and are cailcsJ the Tsing-
ling^ a name which is often used for the
whole range i^ast of Tibet. In Honan are
the 0,000-foot Funiu Mountains, while in
Anhwei the hills are but S,000 f«?et in
height and an? termetl the Tapei Moun-
tains; the name llwai-Vang also appears
on some maps.

In addition to this sequenoe along the
northern margin of the Ontral Mountain
Belt, there is a parallel chain of mountains
to the south of the Han River. In northern
Baechwan these are called the Tapa, while
farther east they crons the Yangtae as the
Gorge Hotttitafiis.

This region sei>arates the wheat-eating
Chinese of the north from the rice-eating
population of the south. It also marks im-
portant cultural and historic boundaries,
for revolutions have commonly been limited
to one side or the other,

Siiict* the western half is ruggcfl, most
of the jK'ople live in the eastern hills where
level lain! amounts to 5 or 10 p4*r ctuit. The
chief city is Hanchiing on the Han River,
amid a miniature (Miengtii Plain.

Not only <i4H*s the ('entral Mountain
Belt sc'jMirate the north and the south, it
also isolates the l»asin of Sr^i'chwaii from
the Yangt7X‘ Plain. The \'nngt7e Gorges
prcivide some of the finest scenery and
most diflieult navigation in C^hina. The
river de.^u'tMuls HCW) fe<*t in the <00 miles from
Wanhsien to Irharig, and the eum‘nt flows
as much as 14 knots. The* principal gorges
occur when* the Yangtze* cuts across anti-
clines of hard limestone. Vesmds up to
1,400 tons are umsI during the high-water
pericKt in summer, but so riiueh |iow*er is
rw^uiresl and the risks are so great that
freight ratis nriuiin high. Smaller Ixiats
operate throughout the year.

South Yangtze UilU

The Yaiigtau* River ilraitis four regions
after it leaves 'rilM*t : tlu* S*i*chwan Basin,
the Central Mouritatn llcU, the Yangtse
Plain, ami the S<Hjth Vangtite Hills. The
latter includes a large ar«*a m»uth to the
watcrshetl. The n^gion lacks internal co-
herence as a gfsigraphic entity, but condi-
tions of life are sur|>risitigly uniform.

Four north-Oowifig strcrains, mil but the
eastenimost of which are tributary to the
Yahgtxe, guide the ecrinomic life, Thease
are the Yuan and Hiatig in Hunan which
reach the Yangta<* via the Tungting Lake,
the Kan in Kiaitgsi which flows via the
Poyang hake, and the Cliieiitafig Riviar ill
Chekiang pmvinct*. In each instance the
major city of the valley lies in or near the

131

South Yangtze Hilh

\aiigize Plain to the north. These are, to river flood plains and to the rolling topog-
respectively, Changteh, Changsha, Nan- raphy on summit levels, elsewhere slopes
ehang, and Hangchow. are fairly steep. Terracing is widespread.

1 he Wujihiio (iorge in the Vangtie. Thmugh this gateway has passed virtually all the traffic between Ssechwan
and the lower Yangtze Valley.

TIicm* rivers and their tributaries carry a Surprisingly large remote areas are in
great vc4ume of traffic on native junks but forest. Fir, pine, and bamboo are system-
are of limitcNl value for steam navigation, atically grown for export to cities along the
When* streams licixmie too .shallow for even Yangtze. The most extensive of these
the smallest Iniats, lniiiilM>o rafts exteiul forest areas are in western and southern
the navigable disianct*. Thus alnio.st every Hunan in the basin of the Yuan River,
eity is nervisl by some water transixirt. Where tlie original vegetation has been
McHlern automobile roa<is have revolution- cleartHl from the hillsides, whether for
isHHl the accessibility <if the n*gion. Journeys lumber or for temporary cultivation, ex-
that oiK»e recniired days are now simply a cc.ssive erosion has occurred. After the land
*oalter of hours. is abandoned it becomes covered with wild

Hills of retldish sandstone are character- grass rather than returning to forest,
is tic. Except for mountains along the Several uplands lie within the region,
'ttfious provincial Ixirtlers, elevations are such os the Lu Mountains in northern
binder t,000 feet, land is restricted Kiangsi with the summer resort of KuUng,

132

Regions of South China

the Hung Mountains in southern Hunan, ever irrigation is feasible. Shortly before
and the Nanling next to Kwangtung. Each the harvest, a second planting is often put
exceeds 4,000 feet. into the same fields in alternate rows with

The river pUiiu of Chekiang, devoted to rice, faO to provide enough livelihood for the dense population so that
the cultivation of sweet potatoes and tung oil trees has spread up the hillsides despite serious erosion.

This is the warmest and wettest part of
the Yangtze Valley. Rainfall everywhere
exceeds 50 inches, and in the higher areas
is as much as 70 inches. Temperatures are
not excessively high or low, with frost only
rarely, but the average annual relative
humidity exceeds 80 per cent. It is this
high moisture content which keeps the
landscape always green. Whereas pro-
longed drought may turn the Yangtze
Plain brown, such conditions seldom occur
here. At least 325 consecutive days are
frost free. Oranges, palms, tung oil trees,
and bamboo reveal the subtropical nature
of the climate. Soils are red podsols and
much leached.

Rice is the universal summer crop wher-

the first crop, but the growing season is not
long enough for two successive crops.
Uplands are unirrigated and devoted to tea,
rapeseed, and sweet potatoes. Winter crops
include beans, oil seeds, and wheat.

Tea is a distinctive crop, with charac-
teristic flavors in each valley. Nearly a
million acres in China are devoted to tea
plants, of which two-thirds are in the South
Yangtze Hills. Siangtan in central Hunan
is especially famous. Hunan and Kiangsi
commonly cure the leaves in such a way
as to make black tea, while green tea is
produced in Chekiang and Fukien.

Cultivated land amounts to 18 per cent,
of which 78 per cent is irrigated. Buck's
surveys for the Rice-Tea Region show

South Yangtze Hills

133

1,788 farm people per square mile of widespread and is produced especially at
cultivated land. This is the highest of any Pingsiang in Kiangsi. Iron ore is mined at
region yet considered but is surpassed by Tayeh and elsewhere along the Yangtze.

Terraced rice fields follow up each valley between uncultivated hilltops. This aerial photograph is from Hunan.

(Aero-Surveyt courtesy J. Lossing Buck,)

those farther south. The total population The nonferrous metals are distinctive, and
amounts to some 65,000,000 in an area of include antimony from central Hunan and
155,000 square miles, or an average includ- tungsten from southern Kiangsi. Zinc and
ing city dwellers and farmers alike of 420 lead have been mined for many years,
per square mile. , In 1940 the coal output of Hunan amounted

The South Yangtze Hills fortunately to 1,050,000 metric tons while Kiangsi
have conspicuous mineral wealth. Coal is produced 340,500 tons. The same provinces

184

Regions of South China

mined about 970 and 5,800 metric tons of extensive maritime interests and skill as
tungsten ore, respectively, and 380 and sailors. Typhoons are recurrent and yield
1,000 metric tons of tin. Xiangsi produced heavy rainfall. Race and language are

Hundreds of thousands make their home on boats in the coastal cities between Shanghai and ('anton. Many of
these people are non-Chinese groups who emigrated from the South Seas centuries ago. (Ato.)

7,100 metric tons of antimony regulus and complex. No other region is so oriented to
400 tons of crude antimony. Almost all the the sea, nor so detached from interior
industry arising from this mineral wealth China. Millions of overseas Chinese count
has developed outside the region. National this as their ancestral home,
planning will doubtless lay stress upon the This is a subsiding shore line with
development of these resources. drowned valleys and offshore islands that

The completion of the Canton-Hankow once were hilltops. Hundreds of sheltered
Railway, and of the east-west line linking harbors provide havens for native junks,
Hangchow with Nanchang, Changsha, and but only in a few localities is there sufficient
Kwangsi has opened up the region to access to the hinterland to give rise to a
modern trade. commercial port.

The irregular coast reflects the rugged
Sovlheaatem CoaM. topography of the interior. Thi.s is a hard

and rocky land, largely underlain by
A variety of factors give geographic granite, rhyolite-porpl^y, and other resist-
personality to the Southeastern Coast, ant formations. Only in sheltered basins
The coast line is embayed and has led to are there softer formations, and these

Canton Hinterland

135

in turn give rise to rounded hills rather than
rugged mountains.

An analysis of the land forms of that part
of Chekiang province which lies within this
region shows that about 5 per cent are
coastal flatlands, 1 per cent are interior
lowlands, less than 1 per cent are rolling
hills (with 4 to 10° average slopes), 90 per
cent are mountain lands (10 to 25° slopes),
and 3 per cent are steep lands (with slopes
over 20°). Topographic conditions in
Fukien are probably comparable, but in
eastern Kwantung there is more level
land and more gentle slopes.

Along the western border is a line of
mountains that rise to 4,000 and 6,000 feet.
Those in southern Fukien are the Taching
Mountains, while farther north are the
Wuyi Mountains, sometimes roman ized
as Bohea.

This is a hot and very wet region, with
60 inches of rainfall on the lower coastal
areas and over 80 inches on the interior
mountains. All months have some rain, but
from May through September the monthly
average is over six inches. Typhoons are
most common during the late summer and
bring torrential rains. The destructive
force of the wind is limited to the immediate
coast, but heavy rains extend throughout
the region. Fukien is somewhat drier than
the other provinces since it lies in the rain
shadow of Formosa.

Except for a short railway behind
Swatow, this region and the Szechwan
Basin are the only ones in the country
without railway facilities. Overland roads
leading to the rest of China are also very
limited except in the far north and south.
Contact with the other provinces has been
by sea. The same problem of isolation
is true within the Southeastern Coast.
Each river-mouth city has its independent
hinterland. Thus Wenchow, Foochow,
Amoy, and Swatow dominate subregions
of their own; and each valley has its own

unique customs and speech. In the days of
clipper ships, Foochow shipped 65 million
pounds of tea a year.

The lingual and psychological confusion
that makes China so difficult to unify
is not characteristic of the bulk of the
interior but of the coastal zone from
Shanghai to Canton. Yunnan and the
southwest have even greater racial differ-
ences but they relate to “ tribespeople ”
rather than to nominal Chinese stock as
along the coast. Fortunately the radio and
standardized school pronunciations will
make people mutually intelligible; but
cultural contrasts will persist.

Since the land offers so little, many
people have turned to the sea. Fishing
boats dot the coastal waters, and seagoing
junks sail north to Tientsin and south as
far as Singapore. Modern Chinese steam-
ships draw many of their crew from this
coastal school for seamen. Emigrants from
Amoy, Swatow, and elsewhere have gone to
Indo-China, Malaya, and the East Indies
by the millions. Their remittances to rela-
tives at home amount to large sums.

With an area of only 70,000 square miles,
the region supports nearly 80,000,000
people. Only 15 per cent of the area is in
cultivation, and the crop area per person
averages but 0.23 acre. *

Canton Hinterland

If Canton and the Cantonese are what
many foreigners imagine all China to be
like, it may be due to two factors. This
was the first port for foreign trade and has
had the longest contact with westerners,
and it is also the home of most of the
Chinese who now live in the United States
and Europe. Arab and Persian traders came
to Canton in the fourth century and were
followed by the Portuguese in 1516 and
later by the Dutch. When modern trade
began early in the nineteenth century, this

136

Regions of South China

was the only port at which foreign vessels
might call. Here also came the first Prot-
estant missionary, Robert Morrison, in

along the northern border are the wettest
area in China, although isolated stations
elsewhere may have more precipitation.

Canton, and Victoria on Hongkong Island, are the leading cities of the Si River Delta.

1807. Millions of Cantonese have gone
overseas and have brought back money
and ideas which have helped to make their
region one of the most progressive.

This is tropical China, for most of the
Canton Hinterland lies within ^ degrees of
the equator. There is a long wet summer
with excessive humidity and high tem-
peratures from mid- April till mid-October,
then follows a relatively cool and dry
winter till mid-February, after which there
are two months of transition with fog and
muggy weather. This region is almost as
wet as the southeastern coast, with 65
inches or* more along the coast and less in
the interior. The maximum precipitation
occurs in August with nearly 12 inches, but
June and July are nearly as wet. Even
winter months have 1 or 2 inches. Snow
falls only on the highest mountains, and
there but rarely. The Nanling Mountains

Temperatures are high, since the sun is
vertically overhead in June, but the cloudi-
ness keeps maximum summer temperatures
in the 90’s rather than around 100°F. as in
Shanghai or Peiping. Europeans wear
white clothing for 11 months in the year.
Occasional frosts kill banana plants and
other tropical vegetation.

These climatic conditions are reflected
in the soils and natural vegetation. Except
on river flood plains and deltas, soils are
red in color with lateritic tendencies. They
are low in humus and so badly leached that
their fertility is very low. The colloid con-
tent is of such character that they erode
badly. Heavy and repeated fertilization is
essential. Most hillsides should have been
kept in the original forest. Where this has
been destroyed, cogonal grasses have
taken possession of the surface. Such rank
grass covers about a third of the region.

Canton Hinterland

137

The fruits of the area further suggest and six-tenths to mulberry fields. Part of
the low latitude for they include oranges, the fish food is supplied by residual ma-

Unusually good roads characterize the landscape of the Kowloon Leased Territory across from Hongkong.
Numerous ponds and canals make fish and ducks an important item in the farm economy.

bananas, pineapples, lichees, olives, and
figs. Sugar cane is also grown.

The Canton Hinterland is a region of two
successive rice crops. Although the yield
for each harvest is the lowest in the coun-
try, the double harvest returns 84 bushels
per acre. Over three-quarters of the crop-
land is double-cropped in summer, but only
8 per cent carries a third winter crop. Sweet
potatoes are more common than elsewhere
but are grown far less than rice; they are
often raised on drier areas as they do not
require irrigation. Poorer people may eat
dried shredded sweet potatoes as a substi-
tute for rice.

Silk is important in the delta south of
Canton. Many farmers also raise fish,
devoting four-tenths of their farm to ponds

terials from the raising of silkworms, and
the fertile mud from the pond bottoms is
used in turn to enrich the mulberry fields.

Cultivated land in the entire region
amounts to some 13 per cent of the total
area. Land values are the highest in the
country, according to Buck, with a price
of 53 Chinese dollars per acre; this is twice
the national average. No less than 2,072
farm people occupy each square mile of
cultivated land. By far the most intensive
utilization occurs in the plain around
Canton.

Three major streams drain the area,
each one converging on a common delta.
In the east is the Tung or East River, in
the center is the Pei or North River, while
the third and longest is the Si or West

188

Regions of South China

River. The latter carries six-foot draft from 100 to 600 feet above the plain, with
steamers as far as Wuchow, 200 miles from the picturesque effects which characterize
the sea, at all seasons. Each river is exten- Chinese landscape paintings. They are

Typical karst hills in Kwangsi. (Courtesy James Thorp,)

sively served by motor launches and native
junks. These rivers flow through very hilly
topography. Fully 85 per cent of the region
is in hills and mountains, considerably
more if the delta is excluded.

1/VTiere these streams reach the sea, they
have built a compound delta. Unlike those
of the Hwang and Yangtze this is not a
broad plain, but rather a fragmented area
of alluvium which surrounds many hills
and is cut by wide distributaries. Its area
is 2,890 square miles, and the population
nearly 9,000,000. This gives a density of
3,100 people per square mile. A shorter
stream in the delta is the Chu or Pearl
River, on which lies Canton.

The province of Kwangsi has unique
karst topography, nowhere surpassed
though equaled in Yugoslavia and Puerto
Rico. Isolated vertical-walled hills rise

remnants left by ground-water solution
and are associated with features such as
caves, underground drainage ways, and
sinkholes where the roofs have collapsed
and only occasional pillars remain. The
area is in an old-age stage of the ground-
water erosion cycle; such limestone hills
are known as hums.

Hainan Island is a detached subregion,
more tropical and less developed. The area
is 14,000 square miles and the population
numbers 2,500,000, many of whom are
Lois tribesmen rather than Chinese. Ele-
vations reach 4,428 feet in the Five Finger
Mountains. Extensive deposits of iron ore
are present.

Canton, and Victoria on the island of
Hongkong, are the major cities, each in the
million class of population. The city of
Canton was founded in 1053 when the

Southwestern Uplands

Chinese settled Kwangtung. It was one of
the first cities to tear down its city wall and
open wide streets, and the city is now part

JFMAMJJASOND

Canton

modern and in part old style. Canton
dominates all of China south of the
Yangtze, commercially and intellectuaUy.
The city serves a rich hinterland, both up
the three rivers as well as along the coast.
Unfortunately, the IVarl River is shallow,
and it is necessary for West River steamers
to go out around the delta to reach the
city. Deep water is available nine miles
downstream at Whampoa, but much dredg-
ing will be necessary in order to create a
modern ocean port.

The island of Hongkong was ceded to
Great Britain in 1842, and additional
territory was leased later on the mainland.
Its advantages have been both geographic
and political. The harbor is excellent, and
the proximity to major shipping lines to
Europe and to America made it an impor-
tant port of call. Hongkong has served as
an entrepdt for smaller ports from Foochow
to Haiphong, but as trade and facilities
developed at these lesser ports the need for
Hongkong diminished. The city of Victoria,
often called by the name of the island, is
picturesquely situated at the foot of an
1,825-foot peak. Across the bay is Kowloon,
with rail connections to Canton and central
China, and for that matter with Europe.
Hongkong was established as a free port.

139

so that trade has flourished. If Canton
should develop an adequate harbor, Hong-
kong might lose much of its significance.

A typical street in the crowded Chinese section of
Hongkong. {Courtesy Canadian Pacific Stmmships.)

Portuguese Macao was settled in 1557
and is the oldest foreign possession along
the China coast. Two hundred thousand
people live in its dozen square miles.

The Canton Hinterland lacks adequate
railway facilities. The line to Hankow was
not completed until 1936, and the only
other railways are the line to Hongkong
and short sections in the delta.

Southivestern Uplands

Yunnan and Kweichow lie in the far
southwest, 2,000 miles from the old capital
at Peiping, yet the Chinese speak some of
the best Mandarin heard outside the Yellow
Plain. More than half the people are of
non-Chinese stock. Conspicuous changes in
transportation and industry arise out of
the westward orientation of Free China
following the late 1930’s.

140

Regions of South China

The toi>ography of this region may be topography resembling that of Kwangsi. In
subdivided into three areas, each a much- Yunnan the few plains all lie on undis-
dissected plateau, which form a giant set of sected interstream uplands, and the valleys

Most Chinese cities have an even sky line broken only by temples, pagodas, and gate towers. This is the main

street in the city of Tali, Yunnan. {Ato.)

stairs from the lowlands of the Canton are narrow and deep. There are several
Hinterland to the highlands of Tibet, lakes and old lake basins on the Yunnan
Western Kwangsi has a general level of Plateau, notably near the cities of Kunming

2.000 feet. Kweichow lies about 4,000 feet, and Tali. The general topographic trend is
while most of eastern Yunnan is above from northwest to southeast; hence, travel

6.000 feet. Toward the east few traces of at right angles involves crossing a series of
summit levels remain, and most settlements mountains and valleys. Level land in the
lie in open valleys. Central Kweichow is so region as a whole is between 5 and 10 per
extensively cut by deep valleys that agri- cent. Earthquakes have been severe in
cultural possibilities are very limited, and western Yunnan.

the hard limestone hills are not easily Although subtropical in latitude, the
terraced. Soil erosion has been very altitude is a moderating factor so that
destructive and has so depleted the hillsides temperatures are mild and the seasonal
that terracing is less extensive than range low. Conditions vary according to
formerly; this is one reason for the poverty local elevation. At Kunming the January
of the province. Kweichow has some karst average is 50®F., and in July it is 70®F.;

Southwestern Uplands

141

extremes have never exceeded 90®F. or the good land and raise rice, while the
dropped below 29°F. The rainfall average tribesmen live on the hills and raise corn,
is 42 inches, with only minor variations, millet, and barley. Expensive transporta-

A Shan house in southwestern Yunnan. (Courtesy American Museum of Natural History.)

Half the total falls in July and August, tion doubles the cost of rice if carried two
The growing season is some 325 days but days’ journey, so that cash crops are
permits only one summer crop of rice, needed if agricultural products are to be
Two-fifths of the fields raise a winter crop, exported. Opium once supplied this need
The Southwestern Uplands have a great but thereby preempted much of the best
variety of native peoples. Chinese have land. New cash crops might be found in
lived here for 2,000 years, but the area has lumbering, livestock, fruit, sugar cane,
remained semicolonial in government and cotton, or tung oil. All these must wait
the Chinese have pushed the aborigines or upon improved access to outside markets,
tribesmen into the hills or steeper valleys This region is the largest in Agricultural
rather than assimilating them. Non-Chinese China, but the percentage of cultivated
people include the Miao, Lolo, Chungchia, land is among the lowest. This is estimated
and many others, each with distinct by the writer at 4 per cent, and by Buck at
languages and culture. In many areas 7 per cent of his Southwestern Rice Area.
Chinese control is only a matter of the Nowhere else are there so many people
past century. per square mile of cultivated land. Buck

These racial contrasts are reflected in the reports a farm population of 2,036 per
agricultural pattern. The Chinese occupy square mile of crop area. Even allowing for

142

Regions of South China

possible errors in computation, this is an Kunming is a city of about 200,000 at
extraordinarily high average. Since so the terminus for a narrow-gauge railway
much of the land is naturally poor, it must from Haiphong in Indo-China, built late in

Rice fields in the central plateau of Yunnan where ancient lakes have left a fertile plain. (Courtesy China

International Famine Relief Commission.)

represent intensive effort and low standards the nineteenth century. This line suddenly
of living. The average farm has but two became important when Japan occupied
acres. China’s seaports, and Yunnan was for a

These uplands have a variety of mineral time the major side door into Free China,
wealth, although in no case do the reserves When the railway was cut, the famous
appear to be extensive. In 1940, Yunnan Burma Road was available partly to take
produced 202,000 metric tons of coal, 7,500 its place. This automobile road crosses
metric tons of pig iron, 13,340 metric tons extremely difficult country in the gorges of
of tin, enough to be of world importance, the Salween and Mekong rivers. A network
485 tons of copper, largest in China, and of automobile roads now links the region
some gold, mercury, and antimony. Kwei- with the rest of China,
chow in the same year yielded 360,750 The migration of colleges, factories, and
metric tons of coal, 3,400 metric tons of pig millions of refugees from the eastern prov-
iron, and some 150 metric tons of mercury, inces has been of great significance in the
highest in the country. modernization of these backward areas.

Chapter 8

REGIONS OF OUTER CHINA

Interior Asia has two large areas with cult. The province has increasingly been
less than ten inches of rainfall: one lies orientecU toward the Soviet Union, espe-
northwest of the Pamirs in Soviet Middle cially since the construction of the Turk-
Asia, the other is to the east in Outer China. Sib Railway near the frontier.

Except for oases along mountain-fed Tibet is also divided into two parts,
streams or favored areas with slightly Nearer Tibet lies closer to Cultural China,
higher rainfall, this is the home of the and is administered as the provinces of
pastorialist rather than the farmer. Nomad- Chinghai and Sikang. Farther Tibet in-
ic encampments replace fixed settlements, eludes the bulk of the great plateau, but its
Although grazing utilizes far more land boundaries next to Sinkiang and Nearer
than does farming, most of the population Tibet are vague. Conventional lines as
is sedentary. shown on maps have no validity with the

Outer China covers some two million local inhabitants. Chinese authority was
square miles, but the population is under negligible between the Revolution of 1911
ten million people. Two-thirds of the area and the removal of the capital to Chung-
is a rolling upland plain, one-third highland king in 1938. During that period British
plateau and mountains. Everywhere the influence was strong,
dominant note is aridity. Most of this dry These major political districts roughly
heart of Asia is without drainage to the sea. form geographic regions; if not entirely
The few withering streams are centripetal homogeneous in their physical pattern, at
rather than centrifugal, and basins are not least they are a unit in cultural coherence,
filled to overflowing as in humid lands Mongolia includes the Gobi Desert and
where precipitation exceeds evaporation, encircling steppelands, with arid mountains
Three areas arc involved, each with in the northwest. Sinkiang has three parts :
somewhat confused political status. Mon- the Tarim Basin, the Tien Shan Range, and
golia may be divided into Inner and Outer the Dzungarian Basin, each inhabited
Mongolia, named from their position with largely by Mohammedans. Tibet is the
respect to the rest of China. Since 1911, great plateau from The Himalaya to the
Inner Mongolia has been grouped into Altyn Tagh.

Jehol, Chahar, Suiyuan, and Ningsia. Outer Half of Greater China lies here in the
Mongolia has been independent of effective interior. Its economic influence is negligible,
Chinese rule since 1913 and is now divided but politically it has had profound signifi-
into the Mongolian People’s Republic and cance since the earliest dynasties. Time
the Tuvinian People’s Republic, both of after time migrations that started in this
them satellites of the Soviet Union. arid interior have swept south across China

Sinkiang has had full provincial status and westward into Europe. This is the
since 1878, but its remoteness from the “Pulse of Asia,” as Ellsworth Huntington
capital has rendered political control diffi- has titled his book, and many of the secrets

148

144

Regions of Outer China

of Old World history will be better under- 12 days from the nearest Soviet railway,
stood as we learn the story of fluctuating The 675 miles from Kalgan just inside the
rainfall in Outer China. Two thousand Great Wall to Ulan Bator can be covered

Lama shrines dot the boundless plains of Mongolia. (Court e»y American Museum of Natural History.)

years ago under the Han Dynasty, Chinese
rule extended west of the Pamirs into the
basin of the Aral Sea, Under Genghis Khan
and his grandson Kublai, the Mongols
built up the largest continuous land empire
ever known.

Overland travel is a major problem.
Railroads are lacking, and automobile
roads few and poor. Caravans of two-
humped Bactrian camels or ox carts are
the chief means of communication. Dis-
tances are measured in days rather than in
miles. Thus the trip from Kashgar in
western Sinkiang to Paotow at the railhead
west of Peiping normally requires 125 days
for 2,500 miles, while an additional 50 days
are needed to reach Hailar in northeastern
Mongolia. In contrast, Kashgar is but

in three days by car but require 30 to
45 days by camel. Two months are involved
in the journey from Koko Nor in north-
eastern Tibet to Lhasa in the south. Effec-
tive political control is diflScult under such
handicaps.

Mongolia

Mongolia is a land where all of life
depends on grass. Agriculture is rarely
possible, mining is largely undeveloped,
there are few trees for forestry and no water
bodies for Ashing, industry is almost lack-
ing, and the chief means of livelihood is in
animal husbandry and in hunting. In the
central Gobi the rainfall is under eight
inches and the desert surface is nearly
barren. Around the margins of the true

Mongolia

145

desert the rainfall rises to 12 inches and it Within the Mongolian People’s Republic
is in this steppe that the nomad finds his there were reported in 1937 to be 576,000
home. Higher elevations in the northwest camels, 1,909,000 horses, 2,410,000 cattle,

Mongol encampments in summer use cloth tents as well as the round felt-covered winter yurts.

intercept more rainfall and have local
forests. The only agricultural possibilities
are in the extreme south and north.

Flocks of sheep, cattle, horses, and
camels are pastured on this grassland.
Since the grass seldom grows tall enough
to be harvested, the animals must go where
it is. Inner Asia is the home of nomadic
people who are continually on the move.
Their felt-covered yurts are found from the
valley of the Volga to that of the Amur.
From their animals come food, clothing,
shelter, transportation, fuel, and wealth.
When the rains fail, the grass withers, and
life is impossible. In few environments does
man live so close to nature. Centuries of
rigorous life in an exacting environment
have long since weeded out the unfit.

4,000,000 goats, and 14,370,000 sheep.
Wool and hides are the chief export,
formerly moving to the North China cities
of Kweihwa, Kalgan, and Hailar, but
currently sold to the Soviet Union.

Sheep are the most useful of these
animals. They provide wool for the felts
that cover the yurts, sheepskins for cloth-
ing, milk in summer plus cheese and butter
which may be stored for winter, mutton in
winter, and dung for fuel. Since they do
not provide transi>ort, the Mongols also
keep horses, cattle, and camels.

The food of the Mongols is largely
derived from their flocks. A little barley,
millet, flour, and brick tea are bought from
passing caravans. Milk, butter, cheese,
and mutton are the chief items in the diet.

146

Regions of Outer China

Since water is scarce, dishes are seldom
washed. Sour milk is the basis of the staple
drink, a concoction of tea, salt, and rancid

It was formerly customary for one son from every
family to become a lama so that the iiuml>er of priests
in Mongolia was a guide to the total population.
{Courtesy American Museum of Natural History.)

butter, often with parched barley and bits
of cheese. This is drunk piping hot from a
wooden bowl.

The Mongols are all believers in the
Lama variety of Buddhism, similar to that
of Tibet. Monastaries receive one monk
from every family and are the chief centers
of fixed settlement. Many lamaseries pos-
sess considerable wealth, in herds, as well
as in buildings and money. The Lama
heirarchy once exercised much temporal as
well as spiritual power.

The Mongols are organized into banners
and khans. The Tsetsen khan occupies an
area in the east, the Tushetu khan lives in
the center, the Sain-noin khan controls

the northwest, while in the far west is the
Jassektu (Sassaktu) khan.

Geographic Mongolia is enclosed by the
Siberian frontier, largely mountainous and
forested, the Great Khingan Mountains,
Jehol, and the vicinity of the Great Wall
next to Loessland. Only in the west ad-
joining Sinkiang is the boundary uncer-
tain. The distance from north to south is
600 miles, while from east to west it is
more than 1,000. The region covers nearly

1.000. 000 square miles. Population esti-
mates are highly uncertain, with a possible
total of 3,000,000, two-thirds of whom are
Chinese colonists in the far south. The
Mongolian People’s Republic is credited
with an area of 580,150 square miles, and a
population of 840,000, ten per cent of whom
are Russians and Chinese.

The chief city is Ulan Bator, formerly
known as Urga, with a population of

70.000. This is an important center of

Lamaism, and the capital of the Mongolian
People’s Republic. Near-by brown coal
mines produced about 100,000 metric tons
in 1937. North of Ulan Bator and opposite
the Soviet city of Kyakhta is the trade
entrepot of Altan-Bulag ^ 20,000 people.

Other settlements are usually monasteries
or trading villages such as Uliassutai and
Kobdo, both in the northwest, or Pailing-
miao in the south.

Nomadic life is progressively diminishing,
especially since 1924 under Soviet attempts
to collectivize herding. During the Manchu
dynasty, the various tribes and banners
were assigned specific grazing areas. Trade
was introduced and, through the manipula-
tion of Chinese merchants, whole tribes
became in debt for large amounts. This
tended further to fix groups of people in
specific areas.

After 1923, Outer Mongolia became
almost a closed land. The Mongolian
People’s Republic and the Tuvinian
People’s Republic are protectorates of the

Mongolia

147

The pattern of Mongolia. Plains are shown in horizontal lines, hills in diagonal lines, and mountains in vertical

lines.

The ancient city of Urga has become modernized since its name was changed to Ulan Bator under Soviet influ-
ence. (Sot/oto.)

148

Regions of Outer China

Soviet Union, and few foreigners have been between the lands of adequate and inade-
able to secure passports. Important changes quate rainfall. But since deserts are areas
have occurred in the place of Lamaism and of fluctuating precipitation, the arable

Hie women of each Mongol tribe have their characteristic headdress commonly made of silver, turquoise,
and coral. Since surplus wealth cannot be invested in fixed property and it is hazardous to increase the size of
one’s fiocks beyond the local grazing resources, jewelry is the chief method of accumulating wealth among the
nomads. {Aio,)

in the economic life, and the coimtries are limits expand and contract with passing
regarded as in a state preparatory toward decades. Time after time throughout
socialism. Inner Mongolia came increas- Chinese history, rainfall outside the Wall
ingly under Japanese influence after 19S8. has increased to the point where it has been
The strategic significance of Soviet sufficient for crops, and Chinese colonists
interests in eastern Mongolia with respect have pressed 100 miles or more into
to those of Japan in Manchuria should be Mongolia. The nomads in turn were able to
obvious. Japanese railways in northern retreat toward the then wetter core of the
Manchuria were built to cut the Trans- usual desert area. Later on in drier cycles
Siberian Bailway in time of war, while when the rains failed, dust bowl conditions
Soviet activity in Mongolia has been aimed developed along the fringe of cultivation
at a possible drive eastward across central and the farmers were obliged to retreat
Manchuria toward Korea. southward. The nomads in turn moved

The Great Wall was China^s attempt to outward, eventually invading the culti-
set a limit between farmer and shepherd; vated areas within the Wall. The Great

Mongolia

149

Wall was an attempt to stabilize a shifting
climatic boundary. It failed because, like all
deserts, The Gobi did not stay put. Similar
to-and-fro migrations are known to have
taken place around the eastern and north-
ern limits of Mongolia,

Inner Mongolia has been the scene of
considerable Chinese colonization within
recent decades, reaching to latitude 4£®N.
outside the Great Wall north of Kalgan.
Soils are fertile but rainfall is precarious;
no large possibilities for settlement are
present. Similar colonization has occurred
in the north where Russian and Buriat
settlers have pushed into the Selenga
Valley.

The Gobi is the most northern of all
deserts, and the most continental. Other
parts of Asia have drier climates, but none
experience a greater range of temperatures.
In winter the thermometer regularly drops
to —30 and even — 40®F. Summer days
often record 90°F. in the shade, and exposed
rock surfaces may be heated to 150°F.
Nights are always cool. The annual day
and night average for Ulan Bator is 35*^F.

Winters and spring have only a light
snowfall, seldom covering the ground to a
depth of more than a few inches. Herds
may thus graze on dried grass throughout
the winter. Summer is the rainy period.
Ulan Bator reports eight inches and the
rainfall decreases southward and westward,
so that the central and western Gobi is the
driest area.

Unlike tropical deserts, rainfall occurs in
showers or a protracted drizzle rather than
in torrential downpours. Such showers may
be local in distribution, so that nomads in
quest of grass find it necessary to be fre-
quently on the move. Some precipitation is
convectional, but much of it is cyclonic or
due to the frontal action of moving air
masses.

In the absence of instrumental records,
climatic characteristics must be determined

in terms of vegetation. Most of The Gobi
has a BS (Koeppen symbol) climate, that
of a dry steppe rather than a true desert.

Patches of BWy true desert, are usually
mapped in the south and southwest where
there is an almost complete absence of
vegetation and numerous sand dunes. The
northern hills and mountains appear to
be Dwy a cold temperate climate with a
dry winter.

Two-thirds of Mongolia lies in the flat
Gobi; the other third is made up of barren
mountains to the north and west. From
every side The Gobi is approached over a
mountain rim, inside which the surface
gradually descends. Within these encircling
mountains, the monotony of boundless
desert plains continues for hundreds of
miles, broken here and there by rugged
mountains or dissected badlands.

The ancient rock floor is a complex of
hard formations, much folded, faulted, and
locally injected with igneous rocks. In
some cases the original sedimentary rocks
have been altered to crystalline gneiss and
schist. Granite is present in many areas.

150

Regions of Outer China

The soil cover is thin and vegetation is smooth erosion surface known as the Gobi
nearly absent so that the rocks are directly peneplain. Although the elevation Varies
exposed on the surface. considerably, it commonly lies around

Most of the undrained hollows of the Pang Kiang erosion surface are bordered by badland topography. In this
arid landscape vegetation is almost completely absent. {Courtefy American Museum of Natural History.)

Despite wide differences in age, hard-
ness, and structure, these ancient rocks
have been worn down to an essentially flat
surface, known as the Mongolian peneplain.
Across it one may drive an automobile
for miles without obstruction. Few areas on
earth have been eroded to such flatness,
and one passes across rocks of notably
different resistance to erosion with scarcely
a topographic break. Here and there are
residual monadnocks. This nearly perfect
plain lies at an elevation of 5,300 feet in
southern Mongolia and at over 6,000 feet
near the Arctic Divide, with lower eleva-
tions in the center.

At altitudes lower than the Mongolian
peneplain there is another remarkably

4,000 feet. This surface is developed on the
softer sediments, Cretaceous and younger,
which have accumulated in down-warped
basins. It also is extraordinarily level, with
little relation to the resistance to erosion or
structure of the underlying rocks.

From place to place, the Gobi surface is
interrupted by shallow undrained hollows
that range in size from 200 yards to 10
miles in length, and from 20 to 400 feet in
depth. These are known as the Pang Kiang
erosion surface, not sufficiently perfect or
widespread to be a peneplain. Whereas
these hollows have relatively flat floors,
they are never so perfectly level as the
Gobi upland. In most cases they contain
intermittent playa lakes. The bluffs that

Sinkiang

descend from the Gobi plain to the Pang
Kiang floor are here and there carved into
badlands by innumerable gullies. Although
the rainfall is low, the runoff from* occa-
sional showers, perhaps years apart, does
considerable work. Depressions of the
Pang Kiang type appear to be largely
excavated by wind work in the softer and
less cemented recent sediments. As a result
of this deflation a veneer of shifting sand
covers the adjoining uplands, especially
around their southern and eastern sides.

Sand dunes are not extensively developed
in Mongolia or in any other part of central
Asia except the Takla-makan Desert. For
The Gobi as a whole, they probably cover
less than five per cent of the desert, chiefly
in the southwest.

The larger part of The Gobi is covered
with a thin veneer of gravel or small stones,
forming a desert pavement. During the
passage of time, all surface sand and silt
have quite generally been removed by
wind and water, and these residual pebbles
remain to armor the underlying rocks or
soil. All finer material has been swept out
of the desert; loess is entirely absent.

Within the plains of Mongolia, Berkey
and Morris of the American Museum of
Natural History have defined several major
basins or broad depressions, known as tala.
In the northeast, extending into north-
western Manchuria, is the Dalai tala,
roughly parallel to the Great Khingan
Mountains. Its northern part is occupied
by a chain of lakes, some of them in the
Amur drainage system; to the south is
rougher country with lava flows and recent
volcanoes. The Iren tala lies in the central
Gobi, on the direct route between Kalgan
and Ulan Bator. It is a broad open country,
which rises from the center at ^,930 feet to
5,000 and 6,000 feet in the broad swell that
surrounds it; within it are at least seven
minor basins. The Gashuin tala lies in the
southwest, between the Gurbun Saikhan

151

Mountains and the Nan Shan Range; its
chief stream is the Edsin Gol. The eastern
part is known as the Alashan Desert. The
Ordos Desert inside the great loop of the
Hwang River represents a fourth basin.

In northwest Mongolia are a series of
basins, bounded by faulted mountains and
much smaller than the warped talas just
described. These are known collectively
as the Valley of the Lakes.

Most of the mountains of Outer Mon-
golia are associated with the great system
of ranges that extends north into Siberia.
From west to east these are as follows : Next
to Sinkiang are the narrow Altai, which
rise to 13,553 feet at the Siberian border
and continue southeastward 900 miles to
the Gurbun Saikhan in the middle of
Mongolia. North of the Valley of the Lakes
is the Tannu Ola, which forms the southern
boundary of Tannu Tuva or the Tuvinian
People’s Republic. Farther north are the
Sayan Mountains, and these in turn mark
the Mongolian frontier east to the Selenga
River. East of the Tannu Ola and south of
the Sayan is a confused mountainous area
known as the Khangai Mountains, a dis-
sected dome rather than a range. East of
the Selenga Valley are the Kentai Hills, in
part mountainous.

In the extreme northwest is Tannu Tuva,
currently known as the Tuvinian People’s
Republic, under Soviet patronage. The
country occupies an enclosed basin in the
Yenisei Valley, and thus within Siberian
drainage. The people are of Finno-Turki
stock rather than pure Mongols; part are
steppe nomads with cattle, others are
forest dwellers with reindeer. The capital is
Kyzyl.

Sinkiang

Sinkiang commands the only low-level
gateways between Oriental and Occidental
Eurasia. Highways have crossed the prov-
ince since the dawn of history, to link

152

Regions of Outer China

ancient China with the Roman World or The present road strikes north from Ansi
to carry military supplies from the Soviet across the barren desert to Hami at the
Union dmring the Second World War. This foot of the Tien Shan or “Heavenly

The pattern of Sinkiang. Plains are shown in horizontal lines, hills in diagonal lines, and mountains in vertical

lines.

was the route of Marco Polo and of the
monks who brought Buddhism from India.
Into China came jade from the Kuen Lun,
while westward moved silks and porcelain.
Strategy even more than wealth or coloni-
zation has been China’s territorial interest.

The great highway of central Asia leads
west from Sian, one of China’s former
capitals in Shensi, to Lanchow and then
follows the long arm of Kansu through the
oases of Liangchow, Kanchow, Suchow,
past China’s ancient front door at the Jade
Gate near the end of the Great Wall, to
Ansi. The road follows the base of the Nan
Shan Range, stepping from one irrigated
area to another along the edge of Mongolia.

West of Ansi the original Silk Road
entered Sinkiang and followed the southern
edge of the Tarim Basin past Lop Nor to
Yarkand, but the oases are now largely in
ruins and the route crosses extremely
desolate country. From Yarkand a diffi-
cult trail leads over the Karakorum Pass to
India. This abandonment appears to be
associated with climatic changes.

Mountains.” Here the trail divides. One
route leads along the oases south of the
mountains through the Turf an Depression
to Kashgar, where the 12,700-foot Terek
Pass crosses the Pamirs to Soviet Fergana.
The other and currently more important
road lies north of the Tien Shan through
Kuchengtze to Tihwa, or Urumchi, capital
of Sinkiang. Three roads lead west from
Tihwa to the Turk-Sib Railway in Soviet
territory; one via Kuldja and the Hi Valley,
another through the famous Dzungarian
Gate, while the third one crosses the
frontier near Chuguchak.

This Imperial Highway required 18 days
each from Sian to Lanchow, to Suchow, to
Hami, to Tihwa, and to Hi. Three more
series of 18 stages each led from Tihwa to
Kashgar.

Automobiles now travel from the border
to Tihwa, Hami, and Lanchow over fair
desert roads. This became the principal
back door to China after the Burma Road
was cut during the Second World War.
Modest sources of gasoline in the Tien

Sinkiang

Shan and western Kansu are of local
importance. A trans-Asiatic railway will
surely one day parallel these ancient lines of
history.

None of these routes offered much attrac-
tion to early nomadic wanderers, as long
stretches of pastureless country intervene
between oases. Farther north, along the
base of the Altai, the grassland is continu-
ous and provides an easy avenue to western
Asia along the valley of the Black Irtysh.

Political Sinkiang covers some 600,000
square miles, with a population of 4,360,-
000. Of these only 500,000 are nomads, and
no more than ten per cent Chinese. Most of
the people are Turki or others of Persian
stock and Mohammedan religion. Unlike
Mongolia and Tibet where Chinese influ-
ence is a matter of recent centuries, Sin-
kiang has been under Chinese control off
and on since the Han Dynasty in 200 b.c.
At distant Kashgar, however, China has
exercised complete control for only 425 out
of 2,000 years. In contrast to Manchuria
where the Chinese have occupied the land
as agricultural settlers, in Sinkiang they
were merely traders in the oases. Chinese
control has been less since Mohammedan-
ism replaced Buddhism in the fourteenth
century. Serious civil war has occurred
several times during the twentieth century.
Soviet influence is strong and the control of
the central Chinese government is only
nominal.

Despite its remoteness, notable changes
have taken place since the inauguration of
reconstruction plans in 1936. In 1939 there
were 330,000 students in various schools.
Stations for the improvement of agricul-
tural and animal husbandry have been
established. Mining and industry are under-
going development, and major improve-
ments have taken place in communications.

Geographic Sinkiang is somewhat smaller
than the political province, for it does not

153

include the large section of the Tibetan
Plateau shown within the political bound-
ary on most maps. Three major subregions
are involved, the desolate Tarim Basin in
the south, the rugged Tien Shan Range in
the center, and the semiarid Dzungarian
Basin to the north. The Tarim Basin is
drier than any other desert in China, but
Dzungaria is comparable to the moister
parts of The Gobi. The prevalence of Turk-
ish and Mohammedan culture creates
resemblances to Soviet Middle Asia, so
that Sinkiang is sometimes known as
Eastern or Chinese Turkestan.

Sinkiang is a land of oases. Most of the
plains are too arid for grazing and the
mountains are too rugged. Wherever semi-
permanent streams descend from the high-
lands, irrigation ditches spread the water
over their alluvial fan. Each such oasis
commands a bit of desert, an irrigated area
with^the principal city, barren foothills, and
well- watered mountain valleys upstream.
Each settlement is largely independent of
its neighbors along the highway.

The only important oases along the south
of the Tarim Basin next to the Altyn Tagh
are Yarkand, with an area of 810 square
miles and a city population of 60,000, and
Khotan, with an irrigated area of 620 square
miles and a city of 26,000. The most impor-
tant settlements lie at the southern base of
the Tien Shan. In the west is Kashgar with
1,000 square miles under cultivation and a
city population of 35,000. Farther east is
the Aksu-Ust Turf an oasis with 600 square
miles and 20,000 people in Aksu. Other
centers are Maralbashi, Kucha, Karashar,
Korla, Turfan, and Hami. The population
of these oases averages 300 people per
square mile.

The oases of Dzungaria are less note-
worthy, None of importance line the Altai
where the more abundant grassland changes
the economy from irrigated agriculture to

154

Regions of Outer China

that of pastoralism. At the northern foot of
the Tien Shan are Wusu, Manass, Tihwa,
Kuchengtze, and Barkol.

Safe agriculture is largely limited to
these areas of dependable water. Wheat,
kaoliang, millet, beans, rice, excellent fruit,
tobacco, and cotton are the chief crops.
Widespread ruins of abandoned cities
and ancient irrigation systems suggest a
larger population in the past, presumably
owing to more abundant rainfall. Not all
such evidence has this interpretation,
however, for some settlements are known
to have been abandoned because of diver-
sion of water upstream, the development of
alkali or saline soils, or political troubles.
Any expansion of crop acreage is tied up
with reorganization of the water supply.
Dry farming may offer some possibilities
in Dzungaria.

Many oases are supplied by underground
tunnels, known as karez from their Persian
name, often several miles in length, which
bring water down alluvial slopes. These
tunnels prevent evaporation losses and are
close enough to the water table to check
seepage. Where they collapse, an oasis
may be abandoned.

The great mountain system of Sinkiang
is the Tien Shan which has a length of
1,000 miles in China plus its westward
continuation into the Soviet Union. This
is the highest range in Asia north of Tibet.
Elevations within Sinkiang reach 23,616
feet in Khan Tengri in the west and 17,712
feet in the Bogda Ola north of Turf an in
the east. Niunerous long glaciers descend
from extensive snow fields. Part of the
topography is very rugged; elsewhere there
are uplifted peneplains and broad valleys
covered with alpine meadows.

To the west the Tien Shan system divides
to surround the broad and fertile Ili Valley,
which drains to Lake Balkhash. Ili is
famed in Chinese history as the most
remote place of banishment.

The other mountains of Sinkiang are the
narrow Altai in the north, largely in
Mongolia, and the Altyn Tagh on the
south, outermost rampart of the Tibetan
highland with elevations over 20,000 feet.
Along the Soviet frontier in the west is a
series of ranges which completely close in
the Tarim Basin and almost block passage
from the Dzungarian Basin. The only low-
land gaps are those referred to earlier in
connection with travel. In the far north is
the valley of the Black Irtysh at a height
of about 1,500 feet between the Altai and
the Tarbagatai, with elevations of 13,553
and 11,910 feet near the frontier, respec-
tively. Farther south is another corridor
near Chuguchak, not so low but much used .
The classic Dzungarian Gate at 1,060 feet
elevation is a graben between the Tar-
bagatai and the Dzungarian Alatau which
here forms the northern spurs of the Tien
Shan. This is the lowest pass in all central
Asia and famous for its strong winds.

The main river of Sinkiang is the Tarim.
All streams that descend from the encir-
cling mountains seek to reach it but many
evaporate, sink into the earth, or are used
up for irrigation en route. There is almost
no cultivation along its banks. The Tarim
gives its name to the entire basin, the
central part of which is the nearly rainless
Takla-makan Desert. Only one stream from
the south persists across the desert. Much
of the Takla-makan is filled with great sand
dunes, more developed here than anywhere
else in Asia except possibly southern
Arabia. Travel across the central desert is
virtually impossible. Fine dust derived
from the beds of withering streams and the
deflation of soft sediments has been blown
into accumulations of loess on the encircling
mountain slopes.

Lop Nor is the terminal lake for the
Tarim River. This si|lt lake in southeastern
Sinkiang has had a unique history. Two
thousand years ago it occupied a site near

Sinkiang

90®E. and 41®N., with the now ruined
trade city of Loulan on its banks. Later the
river was diverted southward and a new
lake developed near 88®E. and 39®N.,
leaving the original Lop Nor a salt-^n-
crusted flat. Sven Hedin has recently shown
that the Tarim has now returned to its
earlier course and that the original site of
Lop Nor is again a lake. The alternation
from basin to basin appears to be the result
of sedimentation, raising the level of first
one then the other higher than the first.
When dry, wind deflation excavates a part
of the silt.

In addition to the main basin there is the
famous Turf an Depression, 928 feet below
sea level.

To the north of the Tien Shan is Dzun-
garia, unlike the Tarim in several particu-
lars. Its plain is open on both east and west,
there is no unifying river, and sand dunes
are less developed. The longest stream is
the Manass which sometimes reaches its
terminal lake of Telli Nor at an elevation of
951 feet. In 1928 the lake was completely
dry, for the basin had become so full of
silt that the river. had been diverted to the
east.

No area in the world is so remote from
the ocean, so that Sinkiang is almost
entirely cut off from the moisture and
the moderating influences of the sea. Few
air masses ever reach it from the Indian,
Pacific, or Arctic oceans. The Atlantic is
even more distant, and westerly winds
from that ocean must first cross the moun-
tains of Europe and nearly 4,000 miles of
Asia, but such rainfall as Sinkiang receives
appears to be largely of Atlantic origin.

Whereas all of Sinkiang is arid, the Tien
Shan separate an exceptionally dry south
from a slightly less arid north. Thus the
north slopes of the Tien Shan facing Dzun-
garia, and the Atlantic, are more humid
than those on the south facing the Takla-
makan. An important fringe of poor grazing

156

land follows the northern edge of the Tien
Shan, and a much richer belt of steppe
borders the southern Altai. These grass-

Kashqar

Elevation, 4,255 feet; average temperature, 54.6®F.;
total precipitation, 8.5 inches.

lands make it possible for nomads to mi-
grate east and west with their flocks. They
were the routes used by the Mongols in
invading western Asia under Genghis and
Kublai Khan. The Tarim Basin has no such
continuous grasslands, and the population
is limited to fixed oases, tens of miles apart.

There are few meteorological stations,
but Kashgar reports 3.5 inches and Yar-
kand 0.5 inch of rain a year, based on short
observations. Precipitation fluctuates
widely from year to year and includes both
winter snow and summer rain. On moun-
tain slopes, the amount may reach 20 or 30
inches, with the maximum at intermediate
elevations and drought above and below.
Thus forests grow on the middle slopes of
the Tien Shan from 5,000 to 9,000 feet,
above which are upland meadows. Sheep
and cattle from the lowlands are pastured
on these grasslands during the summer. The
snow line lies higher than three miles.
Nomads are able to pasture their flocks on
the upper Tien Shan and Pamirs through-
out the year.

156

Regions of Outer China

In this arid landscape, temperatures between the Tarim Basin and the plains of
from season to season and from day to India, with the various political divisions
night differ sharply. Few deserts in the involved. In the far west is the Indian

The pattern of Tibet. Plains are shown in horizontal lines, hills in diagonal lines, and mountains in vertical lines.

world have greater extremes. Summer
temperatures often exceed 100°F., with
a July average of 80®F. or more. The
Turfan Depression has recorded a maxi-
mum of 118°F. and a July mean of 90®F.
January averages are considerably below
freezing, with several stations reporting
less than 22°F., so that the few lakes and
rivers freeze over. Hedin has measured
— at the beginning of January in the
central Takla-makan.

Tibet

There is nothing in Asia quite like Tibet.
Three-fourths of its million square miles lie
above 10,000 feet, and in large areas all
elevations exceed 16,000 feet. Within the
Himalayan and Karakorum ranges alone
there are 50 summits over 25,000 feet high.
Much of the country is a desolate highland
plain without vegetation or nomadic possi-
bilities. Elsewhere a milder climate and
adequate rainfall permit some agriculture.

Tibet is so variously defined that it is
well to compare the extent of topographic
and geographic Tibet, the great highland

native state of Kashmir, while parts of the
Punjab and United Provinces reach into
The Himalaya. Nepal and Bhutan are
independent kingdoms, now related to
Britain but once tributary to China.

The eastern part of Tibet lies in the
Chinese provinces of Chinghai and Sikang
set up in 1928, plus corners of Kansu and
Szechwan. A large area in the northwest is
theoretically within Sinkiang. This leaves
less than half of the plateau for Farther
Tibet, the semiindependent Chinese outer
territory governed from Lhasa. Farther
Tibet is credited with 349,419 square miles
and about 1,500,000 people. The entire
plateau of geographic Tibet may have twice
that number.

Within Tibet are seven physical regions,
as follows:

A, The Himalayan System in the south,
made up of three parallel ranges.

B, The Karakorum Mountains in the
west, between The Himalaya and the Altyn
Tagh.

C, The Tsang Po Valley north of The
Himalaya.

Tibet

157

D, The Chang Tang Plateau, covering
much of northern Tibet.

E, The Altyn Tagh and Kuen Lun sys-
tems in the north.

F, The Tsaidam and Koko Nor basins
between the Altyn Tagh and the Kuen Lun
in the northeast.

G, The “Land of Great Corrosions” in
eastern Tibet, often known as Kam.

A. The Himalaya extend 1,500 miles in
a great arc. The southernmost range,
termed the Siwaliks, rises abruptly from
the plain of the Indus and the Ganges.
Although elevations reach 5,000 feet, these
Outer Himalaya are known as foothills.
To the north are the Lesser Himalaya,
7,000 to 15,000 feet. The Great Himalaya,
still farther north, have an average crest
line of 20,000 feet. In this range are
most of the giant peaks, such as Nanda
Devi in the United Provinces, 25,645 feet,
Mt. Everest in Nepal, 29,141 feet, and
Kinchinjunga in Nepal, 28,146 feet.

B. The Karakorum Mountains in the
west are said to be the whitest, snowiest,
and iciest range outside polar regions.
They include the world’s second highest
peak, K^, with an elevation of 28,250 feet.
Within this area are numerous glaciers
30 and 40 miles long. The famed Kara-
korum Pass, 18,270 feet in elevation, lies
to the northeast outside the Karakorum
Mountains. Further details on The Hima-
laya and Karakorum will be considered in
the chapters on India.

C. The Tsang Po is the local name for the
upper Brahmaputra River where it flows
eastward across southern Tibet. Since this
area contains the central or U province
with Lhasa as the capital, it is sometimes
known as Central Tibet. Within this region
are several other important towns, such as
Shigatse and Gyangtse. This is the lowest
part of Farther Tibet and the most popu-
lous. The Tsang Po flows at an elevation of

12,000 feet and is more or less navigable
by native craft for 400 miles.

Although the peaks of The Himalaya
rise 10,000 to 15,000 feet above the Tsang
Po lowland, the passes from India are no
more than 3,000 feet and in several cases
only a few hundred feet above the floor
of the valley.

D. The largest part of Tibet lies in the
region of Chang Tang, extending from
80 to 92°E., and from 31 to 36°N. This
part of the plateau is a series of desert
playa basins and massive but low moun-
tains, all at elevations over 16,000 feet.
Scoured by the wind, baked by the sun,
and cracked by frost, these desolate up-
lands have a grandeur of their own but are
not a feasible home for man.

Within Chang Tang are hundreds of
lakes, both fresh and salt, and many square
miles are whitened by a surface crust of
salt or alkali. Some salt lakes are known
not as lakes but as salt pits; potash, soda,
and borax are found around their margins.
The largest lake of the region is Tengri Nor,
with an area of 950 square miles. The
Chang Tang is too cold and dry for grass,
trees, or cultivated crops. For eight months
or more the ground is frozen, but in summer
large areas become swampy, especially
where external drainage is lacking.

Scores of partly explored mountains
trend roughly east and west. The southern-
most range is a massive chain, variously
known as the Kailas or Nyenchen Tang La,
and described by Sven Hedin as the Trans-
Himalaya. The average elevation is greater
than The Himalaya, as are also the passes,
but the peaks are lower. Other important
ranges farther north are the Tang La, the
Dungbura, and the Kokoshili.

E, The Altyn Tagh and Kuen Lun sys-
tems are the northern counterpart to The
Himalaya. The Altyn Tagh rises directly
from the Tarim Basin of Sinkiang to heights
of 17,000 feet. Its eastward extension in

158

Regions of Outer China

Kansu is called the Nan Shan» of which
the Richthofen Mountains form the outer
range with elevations touching 20,000 feet.

Towering mountains and precipitous canyons
separate the Szechwan Basin from the highlands of
Tibet. This is the tea route from Yschow to Tatsienlu
and Lhasa. {Courtesy Robert F. Fitch.)

The Kuen Ltm lies close to the Altyn
Tagh where they join the Pamirs in the
west, but diverges eastward. There is a
fairly continuous series of peaks of 20,000
feet and over in the west. Toward the east,
elevations are somewhat less and the chain
is known as the Amne Machin, which
continues into China as the Tsingling.

F. The Tsaidam and Koko Nor basins
are enclosed within the eastern Altyn Tagh
and Nan Shan. The former is a vast desert
swamp at an elevation of 9,000 feet, while
the latter holds a beautiful lake at a height
of 10,500 feet in the midst of a mountain-
rimmed basin. Koko Nor has an area
variously given as 1,600 to 1,800 square
miles and is the largest in Tibet; like most

others it is salty. Both areas are semidesert
with very meager pastoral possibilities.

G. Eastern Tibet is a land of great
canyons and intervening high ranges, with
a general northwest to southeast orienta-
tion. It is known to the Tibetans as Kam,
or as. the “Land of Great Corrosions.”
Here are the Hwang, Yangtze, Mekong,
Salween, Irrawaddy, and their tributaries.
Although the rivers flow at elevations of
slightly over a mile, there is so little level
land in the valleys that most people live
at altitudes between 9,000 and 13,000 feet.
Because of the more abundant rainfall,
extensive forests cover the lower slopes.

In southeastern Tibet these rivers plus
the Brahmaputra approach within 400
miles of each other, but on leaving the
plateau they diverge so that their mouths
are 2,000 miles apart. Since each river is
in a deep gorge and intervening ridges are
sharp crested, cross-country travel between
India and China is very diflScult.

The easternmost mountains, bordering
Szechwan and Yunnan, are known to the
Chinese as the Tahsueh Shan, or Great
Snowy Mountains. Numerous peaks exceed

20.000 feet and are glacier clad. As an
expression of decreasing moisture north-
ward toward the heart of Asia, the snow
line rises from 13,500 feet in Yunnan to

18.000 feet in Kansu. The highest peak is
Minya Gongkar, southwest of Tatsienlu.
The elevation is 25,250 feet.

The climate of Tibet is conditioned by its
great elevation and by the encircling moun-
tains. High altitudes and thin air join
with intense insolation and strong radiation
to produce sharp temperature contrasts
between day and night as well as from the
dry winter to the somewhat moist summer.
Conditions differ widely, for whereas the
vicinity of Lhasa has a mild Cwh climate
(Koeppen symbols), the northern plains
are a cold desert, EBw, and the windward

Tibet

159

slopes of The Himalaya have subtropical
conditions.

Most of Tibet is cut off from the summer
Indian monsoon by the Himalayan barrier,
especially in the west where pressure gradi-
ents and winds parallel the mountain front.
In the southeast, moisture-bearing winds
blow up the valleys of the Brahmaputra,
Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze and bring
summer rain to the Tsang Po lowland.
Almost none of this moisture crosses the
Nyenchen Tang La Range.

The difference between temperatures
during the day and at night may exceed
80°F. In the short summer the thermometer
may reach 90°F., while in winter travelers
have recorded — 40°F. The winter cold is
intensified by strong winds.

In the southern agricultural districts
seed cannot be sown till April. Autumn
comes early, and the crops must be
gathered by the middle of September, for
night frosts then become very severe even
as low as 12,000 feet above the sea.

A climatological station has been estab-
lished at Lhasa since 1935, and the available
records to 1938 indicate a more mild climate
than was previously recognized, certainly
unrepresentative of most of Tibet. The city
lies at 12,243 feet elevation and is sur-
rounded by mountains that rise 3,000 and
4,000 feet above the smooth floor of the
Lhasa River. The climate of Lhasa consists
of two distinct seasons, the rainy or growing
season from May to September, and the dry
or cold season of the remaining months.
Spring and autumn are brief. Local topog-
raphy obscures wind directions, but the
southeast monsoon is clearly developed in
summer. In winter the westerly winds tend
to be stronger and last longer. Mean tem-
peratures range from 32®F. in January to
64®F. in June, with an annual average of
48®P. The latter is exceptionally mild for
the latitude and altitude. The highest
temperatures are in May, before the heavy

rain, as in the Ganges Valley. Frost occurs
on 225 days a year. The annual rainfall
average for 1935, 1937, and 1938 was

A Tibetan pilgrim on his way to the monastery
at Kumbum in Chinghai. Although this photograph
was taken in July, felt clothing is worn even in
summer.

18 inches, but the rainfall was raised to 198
inches in 1936. There is plenty of sunshine
at Lhasa, and even in the rainy season it is
unusual not to have patches of blue sky
for two days in succession.

The shortage of water causes most of
Tibet to be uninhabited and makes travel
hazardous. Most of the population lives in
the south and east, where lower elevations
provide meager agricultural and grazing
possibilities. The chief food is parched
barley or tsamba and a tea made from sour
milk and brick tea as in Mongolia.

The yak is the typical draft animal, a
long-haired form of cattle whose shaggy
appearance exaggerates his massive propor-
tions. Both yak and mules carry al^ut
170 pounds but, while loaded mules travel
20 to 25 miles a day, and donkeys 10 to

160

Regions of Outer China

15 miles, yaks cover even less. The yak mountains and deep valleys via Gyamda,
needs a longer period for graasing than the Chamdo, Batang, and Litang to Tatsienlu
other animals since he is fed no grain, but west of Chengtu. Since this leads at right

The PoUla at Lhasa is the headquarters of Lamaism and the home of the Dalai Lama. Few structures in all

Asia are more imposing. {Emng Galloway.)

no other animal is so well adapted to angles to the trend of the mountains, the
Tibetan travel. Sheep and goats are used route presents great difficulties but is used
for transport purposes in western Tibet extensively.

and carry 20 to 25 pounds each. The South Hoad from Lhasa leads to

The main highways focus on Lhasa. Gyangtse, whence roads continue to Sik-
The Northern Road leads northeast across kim, or to the very important trade
mountains nearly 20,000 feet high past center of Kalimpong near Darjeeling. Mail
Koko Nor to Tangar west of Lanchow. covers the 330 miles from Lhasa to Gangtok
Caravans take about 50 days for the in India in eight to ten days,
journey, usually traveling in summer on The main West Road runs up the valley
account of the more abundant grass and of the Tsang Po past Lake Manasarowar
water as well as the warmer weather, to Gartok on the upper Indus and continues
Yaks are used across the Chang Tang in to Leh, the capital of Ladakh, 900 miles
summer, and camels in winter. from Lhasa.

The Chinese Road, also known as the In the far west are trails that connect
Tea Road, runs east from Lhasa over high India and Sinkiang, either across the Burzil

Tibet

161

and Hunza passes from Srinagar to Kash-
gar, or farther east over the Karakorum
Pass.

Uiasa is the Mecca of Tibet and the
dream city of explorers throughout the
world. The city lies in a sheltered valley
where it is possible to raise vegetables,
apples, and peaches, and many flowers.
Bamboo and trees grow well, but the hill-
sides have been denuded for fuel. The city
has electric lights and telephones. The
crowning feature of the city is the monastery
palace of the Dalai Lama, known as the
Potala. This is the climax of Tibetan archi-
tecture and one of the most majestic
buildings in the world.

Lamaism governs many aspects of
Tibetan life, political as well as spiritual.
Control is divided between the Panchan
Lama at Tashilumpo, the traditional spirit-
ual head, and the more politically powerful

Dalai Lama at Lhasa. The fourteenth
Dalai Lama was installed in 1932. Mon-
asteries serve as centers of industry and
learning, as well as for religious pilgrimage.

Chinese interest in Tibet dates from 650
when a Chinese expedition entered Lhasa.
In 1209 Tibet was conquered by Genghis
Khan, and in 1270 Kublai Khan became
a convert to Lamaism and set up the rule
of priest-kings, Chinese control continued
intermittently until 1911 when the Amban
in Lhasa was killed and all Chinese expelled.
Only since 1932 has it been possible for
Chinese again to send representatives to
Lhasa. British influence developed late
in the nineteenth century and has con-
tinued to be effective, with a telegraph line
to India, a Tibetan army trained by Indian
officers, and frequent British missions in
Lhasa.

Chapter 9

CHINA IN THE NEW WORLD

Nationalism

From the beginning of the war with
Japan in 1931, the issue was whether China
was to be colonial or independent. That
question is settled but the consequences
remain. Until the Revolution of 1911,
government was a function of the Emperor,
organized patriotism scarcely existed, and
public opinion was apathetic. Only with the
establishment of the Nationalist Govern-
ment in 1928 did a tide of national con-
sciousness sweep over the country. Few
aspects of wartime China so surprised her
foreign friends as the depth of patriotism
and unity. China has now demonstrated
her right to a place in the forefront of the
United Nations.

But what kind of China is emerging?
Will she follow the socialist formula of the
Soviet Union with detachment from world
trade, will she pattern after the democratic
United States, or will China relapse into
civil war and chaos?

The key to enduring peace in eastern
Asia is a strong China, so strong that no
foreign nation will again be tempted to
seek special privilege. If any residue of
alien power remains on Chinese soil, its
presence will provoke further trouble.
China must be so powerful in economics
and in government and in spirit that she is
completely master in her own house.
Japanese imperialism failed just as did that
of Europe; and it is inconceivable that any
other country can succeed in keeping China
in bondage. China has always been the
dominant nation in her part of the world,

16 «

and it appears probable that she will so
continue.

In terms of territory, this means that
China insists upon the complete restoration
of foreign concessions at Shanghai, Han-
kow, and Tientsin, and of territory ceded
or leased under duress such as Hongkong
and Kowloon (to Britain), Macao (to
Portugal), and Kwangchowwan (to
France). Manchuria must unquestionably
be restored, and the transfer of Japanese
investments there may in some measure
serve as indemnity. Outer Mongolia pre-
sents a special problem, for its population is
non-Chinese and the interests of the Soviet
Union are strong. Other territorial changes
will be considered in a later section.

During the period of twentieth century
unification, an antiforeign nationalism was
used as a rallying cry to rouse the people.
In the postwar decades, an intense patriot-
ism will continue, in part to assert a fully
regained sovereignty and in part to unify
public opinion in the tasks of reconstruc-
tion. To the extent that this may make
China unwilling to invite foreign assistance,
it will be unfortunate both for China and
for the world.

Just as China was unprepared for war,
so she is not ready for the demands of
peace. The needs for industry, transport,
and public utilities greatly exceed the
available capital and technological skill.
Unless China should decide to spend
decades in lifting herself by her own boot-
straps, outside assistance is essential.
But it need not carry imperialist restric-
tions as heretofore.

China's Economic Potential

163

It seems probable that during the second
half of the twentieth century, China will
experience a great and spectacular renais-
sance, comparable to that of the Soviet
Union between the First and Second World
Wars and of the United States after the
Civil War. Geographic factors all point to
China’s leadership in eastern Asia and to
her place as one of the major world powers.
Problems of social transition and political
organization lie outside geography, but a
nation cannot utilize its resources without
coherence and purpose. It will be regret-
table if China’s nationalism should lead her
to a self-sufficient autarchy rather than
cooperative internationalism. This issue
will determine whether China is to be
reoriented toward her seaports or will seek
self-sufficiency in the interior.

Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic,
recognized China’s need for external aid
in his volume entitled ‘*The International
Development of China.” It seems probable
that his attitude toward foreign assistance
will guide postwar developments.

China^s Economic Potential

The three great geographic assets of China
are coal, man power, and location. Miner-
als are present in only modest amounts
and the soil is good but so inadequate in
terms of population that there is little room
for industrial crops or export surplus.
Extensive forests may be grown on hillsides.
The country almost lacks petroleum, and
where water power is available it is also
seasonal. Despite such shortages, China
can look forward to a far greater industrial
future. Certainly no other country in
eastern Asia is so well endowed as a nation;
I>er capita possibilities are more modest.

The mineral resources of China are
varied, and their exploitation is a matter of
metallurgy, economics, and p)olitical policy.
Location and world prices are quite as

important as geological origin. It is possible
that China has enough of most metals to
supply all the industries that can be built
for several decades. Coal without iron ore is
better than iron without coal, for coal is
the key to chemical industries, to cement,
and to power. China’s coal supply is very
great and well distributed, though not all
is of metallurgical quality.

China’s millions provide the world’s
largest source of labor. At present they are
inefficient, but there is no reason why two
generations of training may not make labor
as skilled as in Europe. A limited diet and
a somewhat enervating climate are handi-
caps, but the sheer bulk of China’s man
power is impressive. The new China has
an enormous amount of work to be done in
building roads, controlling rivers, improv-
ing agriculture, developing forests, operat-
ing factories, and improving housing. The
people to do the job are available.

Location is a geographic resource, for the
possession of material assets is of little
value in Antarctica or central Africa. Most
of China’s economic potential lies in areas
accessible to the seacoast, which in turn
is at the meeting point on the main sea
routes from Europe and from North
America. In the territory between India,
Australia, and Soviet Siberia, China has
no possible rival except Japan, which is
dynamic but poor.

Starting with the early 1930’s, China was
experiencing spectacular developments in
road building, city rehabilitation, and
education, all of which were arrested by
the Japanese invasion. Postwar China faces
exceedingly urgent economic needs that
touch all of her life. To list some of them
alphabetically, they include agriculture,
consumer goods, export products, housing
and sanitation, hydroelectric power, indus-
try both heavy and light, land reclamation
and resettlement, military defense, mining,
reforestation, river conservancy, roads and

164

China in the New World

railways, shipping and port facilities, and
urban reconstruction.

Some plan is essential. When the Soviet
Union started its five-year programs it
ruthlessly postponed the manufacture of
consumer goods and started at the bottom
with mining, transportation, heavy indus-
try, and defense. Some such emphasis is
needed in China, but other needs will not
wait. Nor is it possible to duplicate the
Soviet program here, even with comparable
political and social ideology, for China
lacks the mineral wealth of the U.S.S.R.
and does not possess even the initial tools.

At the close of the First World War, Dr.
Sun Yat-sen proposed a huge scheme of
internal development and invited the
outside world to participate. This envi-
sioned the establishment of three great new
ports, near Tientsin, Shanghai, and Canton,
with an extensive network of railways
radiating from each. Along with improved
communications there was to be emphasis
on water power, mining and industry,
agriculture, irrigation, colonization, and
reforestation. This program overlooked the
momentum of established ports such as
Shanghai, gave inadequate attention to
the location and amounts of raw materials
and of markets, ignored topographic bar-
riers to communications, and greatly over-
estimated the settlement possibilities of
Outer China. All these essential geographic
items are basic to planning.

China’s first need is inventory. Few
major developments are justified until the
possibilities are all clear. This was illus-
trated in the Soviet Union by the creation
of steel mills in the Kuznets coal basin
prior to the discovery of Karaganda coal
much closer to the iron ore. China should
not plan for heavy industry until the
location of all available resources is known.
Does China have unused land with soil and
climate suitable for crops? Is the flow of
certain rivers dependable enough to justify

large hydroelectric installations? Can the
metal of various ores be extracted eco-
nomically? What population trends may be
counted on? What areas if any will be
strategically safe from invasion during the
next war?

Within the first decade of peace, China
must catch up with a century of progress
in the west. For this she needs vast amounts
of capital. As of 1937 and excluding the
Manchurian provinces, the total modern
industrial capital of China amounted to
3,807 million Chinese dollars, of which 74
per cent represented foreign investments.^
Japanese investments in Manchuria
reached five billion yen by 1941. This
averaged less than $2 per capita accumu-
lated by Chinese themselves. In contrast
to this, the figure in the United States in
1930 was U.S. $430 or $1,433 in Chinese
currency. Or if machinery per inhabitant
is considered, prewar northwestern Europe
has an index figure of 100, the United States
405, and China less than 1,

The industrial centers of prewar China
were as follows :

A. Mukden -Dairen, with coal, iron,
chemicals, soybean products, cement, and
railway equipment.

B. Tientsin-Chinwangtao, with coal,
salt, cement, glass, and cotton textiles.

C. Tsingtao-Tsinan, with coal and cotton
textiles.

Z>. Shanghai-Hangchow-Nanking, with
cotton and silk textiles, flour mills, ciga-
rettes, shipbuilding, and miscellaneous
light industries.

E, Hankow, with iron and agricultural
products for export.

F, Hongkong-Canton, with shipbuilding,
silk, and miscellaneous industries.

To these were added in wartime the small
but impressive developments in Free China,

ipowG, H. D., K. Y. Lin, and Tso-pan Koh,
** Problems of Economic Eeoonstruction in China/*
Mount Tremblant, Canada: China Council, Institute
of Pacihc Relations (1942).

Foreign Trade

notably the Chungking area with coal and
iron, and the vicinity of Kunming with tin,
copper, and machine shops.

All these will continue to be important.
New centers of industry should arise in the
Shansi coal basin and in the mineralized
belt" across south central China. For
strategic reasons, early attention may be
concentrated on heavy industries in the
southwest, notably near Siangtan in central
Hunan, and around Chungking and Kiating
in Szechwan. Although the lower Yangtze
Valley does not have the largest resources,
it has superior water transport for both
river and ocean steamers and is fed by
numerous rail lines. Here is the largest
market, the greatest head start, and the
easiest contact with imported materials
and skills. Should China, like Japan, desire
to import iron ore from the Philippines and
Malaya, neither of which has proper coal,
the Yangtze provides a good setting for
steel mills. The Yangtze Valley is also the
source of important agricultural exports.
The center of this new industrial area may
well be Hankow.

The new China must plan regionally,
with balanced attention to the problems of
all areas and adequate appreciation of
geographic conditions. It should be clear
from the preceding chapters that the possi-
bilities of Sinkiang and of the Southeastern
Coast are unlike, but each has its needs.
Only a balanced China can be a strong
China.

Foreign Trade

All figures on China’s foreign trade since
1928 have been confused by changing
tariffs, fluctuating exchange rates, and
political developments. Every year since
1877 has shown a visible excess of imports
over exports, but invisible items such as
remittances from overseas Chinese and
expenditures by foreign legations and mis-
sions probably bring the total trade into

165

balance. Despite all handicaps, foreign
business has grown, increasing sevenfold
between 1900 and 1930.

Notable changes have occurred in the
character of this trade. China was once self-
sufficient and importers found it difficult
to offer anything in exchange for tea and
silk. Later on, there developed a large
market for cotton cloth and thread, kero-
sene, cigarettes, matches, sugar, rice, and
manufactured goods. China in turn ex-
ported unprocessed agricultural products.
Between the First and Second World Wars
the country came to weave much of its
own cloth and make many of its simple
factory needs. Owing to the cheapness of
labor these articles were exportable to the
markets of Southeastern Asia, where they
successfully competed with products from
Japan where efficiency was higher but
where labor costs were also higher.

The new China will undoubtedly offer a
large market, particularly to the United
States. It is possible that the needs of Asia
will be a significant factor in maintaining
the industrial productivity of America.
Trade with the Orient after the Revolu-
tionary War and the War of 1812 was a
major item in enabling the United States
to keep going economically; this may again
be true following the Second World War.

The China market has hitherto called for
consumer goods which could be sold at
very low prices, and Japan has been able
to undersell other nations. Once China
develops its own industrial capacity, the
need for cheaper imports will diminish.
Even a modest amount of planning will
call for a great supply of producer goods,
and it is in these that the United States
excels. This includes mining equipment;
smelters and refineries; factories for auto-
mobiles, paper, cement, and chemicals;
railroad and highway equipment; and
electric power plants. In addition Hiere
will be need for materials largely unobtain-

166

China in the New World

able in China such as gasoline, rubber, and
some metals.

The development of an industrial system
will bring large dividends, but only after
decades. China will be hard pressed to pay
for essential imports and will doubtless dis-
courage the importation of luxury goods
and of as many consumer products as
possible.

If the western world desires to sell to
China» it must buy in return. China will
naturally make strenuous efforts to find
markets for her goods, and these must
largely be the product of her agriculture,
mines, and cheap labor. Before the Second
World War, the chief exports were soybeans
and bean cake, raw silk, wool, hides, furs,
egg products, tin, antimony, tungsten, and
tung oil. Not all of these will regain their
former prominence. Manchuria no longer
has a mono|>oly in the world supply of
soybeans; silk is partly replaced by syn-
thetic substitutes but China might recap-
ture the market from Japan; and wool and
hides of better quality are available else-
where. China’s unique metals will continue
to find a ready market. China once supplied
the world’s tea and might regain some of
the market. Artistic items such as em-
broideries and lace, novelties, and products
in which unskilled labor is important will
increase.

China’s trade has been concentrated with
a few countries, but it is difficult to deter-
mine their prop>er rank on account of
transshipment through the free port of
Hongkong. Japan has probably led in the
past but was closely followed by the United
States. Great Britain was third, followed by
Germany and France. A large trade also
exists with the areas to which Chinese have
emigrated, such as Indo-China, Thailand,
Malaya, the Netherlands Indies, and the
Philippine Islands. Taken together they
surpass Britain.

The new China will have two chief areas

of overseas trade interest: the United States
and Southeastern Asia. From the latter
will come petroleum, rubber, cocoanut oil,
sugar, hemp, lumber, aluminum, nickel,
chromium, manganese, and iron. To these
areas China will ship cheap manufactured
goods such as textiles, cigarettes, novelties,
and articles requiring moderate skill. The
United States will supply the tools for
heavy industry, complicated machinery,
some consumer goods, technological aid,
and certain raw materials such as copper.
In return China will export silk, hides and
wool, tung oil, other agricultural raw ma-
terials, antimony and tungsten, and cheap
labor goods. Unfortunately these do not
appear likely to equal the value of essential
imports.

A modernized China will have all it can
do for decades to meet its internal needs
and balance its foreign trade. The best
market for Chinese products is at home.
Instead of being a threat to world com-
merce, it offers a great market and a supply
house. The industrialization of the Orient
provides one of the best prospects for the
prosperity of the West. China will dominate
its comer of Asia, but it lacks the basic
iron and associated materials ever to
achieve first rank as an exporter.

Geostrategy

China emerges from the Second World
War as one of the Big Four of the United
Nations, weakest in actual achievement
but with a very great potential in area and
position. Before the end of the twentieth
century she will probably have caught up
with the West and regained her historic
leadership in the East, provided that civil
war does not retard her progress.

In this era of material civilization and
power politics, China is well endowed with
the essentials of political geography. These
include large size, compact shape, advan-
tageous location, natural boundaries, access

Geostrategy

167

to the ocean, reasonably satisfactory land
forms, diversified if none too abundant
minerals, and an agriculturally productive
climate. Few nations are more fortunate in
their geopolitical picture.

If China had not been huge, she might
not have survived the Japanese invasion.
One of a nation’s greatest military assets
is defense in depth. Without the ability to
trade space for time, China could scarcely
have held out. Even omitting the sparsely
populated areas of Mongolia, Sinkiang, and
Tibet, two million square miles remain.
Large size is not synonymous with self-
sufficiency, but within the diverse environ-
ments of Greater China there is a wide
variety of resources. A large size at the same
time brings problems in communications
and the welding together of diverse peoples.

China’s location is not of first rank for
world commerce, but she is well situated
with respect to a large trade area within
which as a whole are exceedingly great
resources and attractive markets. Her loca-
tion is both continental and maritime.
Two great ocean highways meet along
the China coast; one from Europe via
Singapore, the other from North America.
Overland communications with the Soviet
Union and India are inadequate but can
be improved.

Many international disputes arise from
unsatisfactory boundaries. China’s frontier
with India along The Himalaya is easily
defined and defended. Next to Soviet
Siberia the broad Gobi Desert interposes a
different environment but thCre is no
sharply defined boundary. A strong China
pushes her control to the north of the
desert, a strong U.S.S.R. pushes her
influence to the southern margin in the
form of the Mongolian People’s Republic.
The only part of China across which a
foreign power might legitimately wish a
transit route is in the far northeast where
Manchuria projects into Soviet territory

and blocks the normal avenue from Lake
Baikal to Vladivostok.

China has a coast line 4,000 miles in
length, without measuring irregularities. In
comparison, the land frontier is 9,500 miles.
The delta sections are deficient in good
harbors, but on the whole there are ade-
quate port possibilities and good access
to the hinterland. The coastal Chinese
have a long record of maritime interests,
with native junks reaching Ceylon early
in the Christian era. Nevertheless, China
as a whole has been continental minded;
and one of her current problems is to re-
orient her economic and social interests.

Whereas China has a long coast line,
she does not enjoy unrestricted access to
the sea. Korea and the Maritime Provinces
of the Soviet Union block access to the Sea
of Japan, hence the importance of the new
Korean gateway at Rashin. To the east of
Shanghai are the Liuchiu or Ryukyu
Islands, once a Chinese dependency but
taken over by the Japanese late in the
nineteenth century. Formosa screens the
Fukien coast, while the Philippines lie
to the southeast. It is but natural that as
large a power as China with histoi ic claims
to Formosa and the Liuchius should
demand their retrocession.

The strategic advantages and disadvan-
tages of topography were repeatedly illus-
trated during the war with Japan. Invasion
was blocked by mountains, but internal
strength is also handicapped. Towering
mountains to the west and a broad desert
to the north provide buffer zones. Except
for the Central Mountain Belt, eastern
China has no mountains higher or more
rugged than the Appalachians, nor hills
more difficult of access and utilization than
the Appalachian Plateaus.

The mineral picture has already been
considered in detail. With superabundant
coal and passable iron ore, China is moder-
ately well equipped for industrialization.

168

China in the New World

Southeast Asia as a whole, including the
adjoining islands, is exceptionally rich. A
strong China will presumably wish assured
access to the South Seas, from where she
will have to draw numerous mineral and
agricultural products.

Too little attention is given to the im-
portance of climate. It is clear that agri-
culture is intimately related to temperature
and rainfall, but human health and energy
are also, tied up with climatic stimulus.
World maps of climatic energy give inter-
mediate rank to China, which in turn rates
above the lands to the south where Chinese
immigrants have captured much of the
retail business.

Leadership in any part of the world de-
pends partly upon factors such as these.
China has a large and secure home base,
and a commanding position in her larger
region. Japan’s location is as good but she
lacks the security, the resources, the num-
ber of people, and the psychology of
leadership.

China’s immediate neighbors are Japan,
the Soviet Union, India, and the countries
of Southeastern Asia. With Japan, China
has fought two wars in modem times, and
even with victory in the second very large
problems remain. Japan will be considered
in subsequent chapters, but the problem
transcends geography. As neighbors, these
lands must learn to live together. A
defeated Japan without her outlying pos-
sessions which gave her offensive military
power should not again threaten China for a
generation. An independent Korea, possibly
under China’s protection, will offer further
security. Japan has enjoyed the advantages
of a head start, but she does not have the
geographic requirements in her homeland
to hold a place among Class A powers. Her
program for an East Asia Co-prosperity
Sphere was motivated by her lack of
domestic resources and need for markets,

but this dream has now disappeared.
Neither India nor Southeastern Asia con-
stitutes a conceivable military threat to
China.

The future foreign program of the Soviet
Union is not clear, but her policy toward
China will presumably be social and
economic rather than military. Overland
communications are not adequate at pres-
ent for sizable trade, and the rail haul is
uneconomically long; return shipments are
lacking. Outer Mongolia and Tannu Tuva
present special problems. China will not
willingly part with northern Manchuria,
but the Soviet Union might with consider-
able justice ask for transit rights over
the old Chinese Eastern Railway to
Vladivostok.

Europe and North America are farther
away but even more important for trade
than these near neighbors. It is unlikely
that either area will ever again be able to
achieve imperialistic control in the Orient.
German trade came back strongly between
the First and Second World Wars and may
do so again, but adequate capital and plant
facilities are lacking. England is the chief
rival of the United States but is farther
away and has smaller resources. If the
British Commonwealth should act as a
unit, the situation would be different.

The external aspects of China’s geo-
strategy which call for attention are four-
fold. They involve economic access to the
resources and markets of Southeastern
Asia; colonization possibilities in the same
area; transit corridors through northern
Korea from Manchuria to the Sea of Japan,
via northern Indo-China from Yunnan to
the South China Sea, and across Burma for
a window to the Indian Ocean; and military
security through possession of Formosa and
the Liuchius. The political status of the
Paracel Islands south of Hongkong is not
clear, but their ownership would add to

Geostrategy

169

China’s security. This points to a southern
orientation of foreign policy/ whereas
internal policy looks westward.

These problems are of concern to a
strong China; they are equally important
to the United Nations. Although it is
impossible to foresee distant centuries, it
does not appear likely that China will
become a threat to the rest of the world.

The Chinese have a peaceful and demo-
cratic tradition and, whereas they will be
supreme in their own realm, their country
lacks the geographic factors that might
make for world dominance. Under able
leadership, China will find that she has the
geographic resources with which to meet
her geographic needs, provide^ her popu-
lation remains within bounds.

Chapter 10

JAPAN^S NATURAL FOUNDATIONS

In Japan’s quest for empire, she origi-
nally had but few assets; chiefly location
and a virile and dynamic people. Although
the homeland is poor, surrounding areas
add important resources. At the height of
her conquests in Japan was more

nearly self-sufficient than the United States.
Her conquered territory extended from the
Aleutians 4,500 miles south to the Solomon
Islands, and from Wake Island 5,000 miles
west to Burma. This involved a land area of
3,250,000 square miles and a population of
300,000,000. Time was temporarily on
Japan’s side, for no other nation ever con-
quered so much territory with such riches
so quickly or so easily.

IVior to Dec. 7, 1941, the Western World
failed to appreciate Japan’s economic and
military potential, for they thought only in
terms of the limited agricultural and
mineral possibilities within Japan proper.
Nor did America or Europe understand the
enormous size and geostrategy of the
Pacific. Japan’s world position will be con-
sidered in Chapter 14, but her place can be
evaluated only after the basic elements in
her geography are clear.

Land Form

The Japanese Empire is both insular and
mountainous. Land and water are every-
where near each other, and the few plains
are so small that one is almost always
within sight of mountains. Die encircling
seas have such a large role that the geogra-
phy of Japan is nearly as much hydrography
as topography.

Four large islands make up Japan proper.
The largest is Honshu in the center. This is
the mainland and economic core of the
country. In the southwest lie Shikoku and
Kyushu, and to the north is the newer
frontier island of Hokkaido. Hundreds of
smaller islands cluster around these larger
lands. The Empire also includes Karafuto
and the Kurile or Chishima Islands in the
north; the peninsula of Korea or Chosen to
the west; and Formosa or Taiwan, the
Liuchiu or Ryuk 3 m Islands, and the man-
dated islands southward to the equator.
^‘Manchoukuo” has been closely associated
with Japan but has already been considered
in connection with China. The term Old
Japan is here used for Honshu, Kyushu,
and Shikoku, leaving the balance of the
Empire as Outer Japan. Unless otherwise
indicated, most generalizations in these
chapters deal with Old Japan. Japan proper
covers 147,707 square miles, about the size
of California, while the Empire has an area
of 268,050 square miles including the Man-
dated Islands.

The Pacific Ocean is encircled by a series
of rugged Tertiary mountains from Cape
Horn through Alaska to Australia. Along
the coast of Asia these form a festoon of
mountainous island arcs, each with its ends
curving inward toward the continent. Japan
proper occupies one of these arcs, while the
island possessions of the Chishima and the
Ryukyu are similar arcs to the north and
south. From north to south these arcs en-
close the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan,
and the East China Sea.

Land Forms

171

If we could take away the encircling of which 60 have been active within historic
ocean, the Japanese archipelago would times. Symmetrical Fujiyama, now officially
stand out as a great mountain range, with spelled Huzizan, is the most famous of the

The summit crater of Fujiyama is the goal of more than 50,000 pilgrims a year. (Oermaine Kellerman^ courtesy

Japan Reference Library.)

peaks rising five and six miles above their
base. And if we could change geological
history to moving-picture speed, we might
observe the frequency with which volcanoes
and block faulting and crustal folding have
disturbed the configuration of Japan. Scat-
tered sedimentary rocks reveal that the
islands have been submerged at various
times since the Pre-Cambrian, while wide-
spread lava flows, ash deposits, and intru-
sions betray repeated igneous activity. In
tectonics and topography, Japan is so
young that there has not been time to
round off the edges. Slopes are unusually
steep and summits jagged.

Within this mountainous framework, the
Japanese Empire has over 500 volcanoes.

active peaks, although it has not erupted
since 1707. Since many of the volcanoes are
high and isolated, they are significant ele-
ments of the landscape. Earthquakes are
common, with about 1,500 shocks a year.
There are seven principal seismic zones:
offshore along the margin of the continental
shelf and the Japan deep, along the coast
of the Sea of Japan, the western Inland
Sea, from Osaka past Lake Biwa to Tsuruga,
the Fossa Magna and Fuji zone, the Nasu
volcanic chain in northern Kyushu, and
the Ishikari depression in Hokkaido. Where
the earthquake epicenters are near large
cities, great damage results, as at Tokyo
and Yokohama on Sept. 1, 19^. The de-
struction is especially devastating on un-

172

Japan^s Natural Foundations

consolidated rock, such as underlies many able slope, and down them during the
cities. rainy season flow turbulent yet overloaded

Within Japan proper is an infinite com- mountain streams, whose braided courses

Alluvial lowlands lie near the water table and are utilueed for rice fields whereas the upper diluvial terraces
cannot be flooded and are devoted to dry crops in larger plots. Youthful valleys cut into the terrace lands.

plex of topography, and yet an essential
repetition of associated land forms. Insular
Japan has intricate patterns of microdetail
rather than the gross structures of China.
According to Oseki, 73j^ per cent of the
slopes are over 15®,^ and less than 15 per
cent of the land is flat.

Land that is even approximately level is
limited to discontinuous fragments of up-
lifted sea floor, interior basins filled with
debris, alluvial flood plains and deltas, and
the dissected terraces of earlier streams or
marine plains. Valley floors have a notice-

^ Obeki, K., The Economic Geography of Japan,
ScottUh Oeoffrapkied Moffazine^ XXXI (1015), 452.

are strewn with sand and cobbles. On
either side dikes guard the adjoining fields,
for so much deposition has occurred that
the bed of the stream may be level with or
above the surrounding countryside.

Not all of the nearly level land is usable.
Coastal swamps and stony river beds al-
most defy reclamation. The largest areas of
unused level land are the old flood plains
and coastal plains which now stand as
terraces a few tens or even hundreds of feet
above present stream levels. These former
surfaces, graded to sea level when the land
was lower but now uplifted and dissected,
are known as diluvial terraces, in contrast

Land Forms

173

to the present-day xmdissected surfaces within Japan proper. The total level area
called alluvial. In some plains they cover a does not exceed 20,000 square miles, no
quarter to a half the lowland area. Since larger than half the state of Ohio. The four

Level land covers but 15 per cent of Japan proper and may be divided into (1) diluvium and (2) alluvium.
The major geomorphic regions of Japan proper are the outer and inner zones, each divided into southern
and northern halves; between them lies the Fossa Magna. Korea likewise has a southern and a northern half.

diluvial terraces are built of sand and gravel
and have a low water table, they are of
limited use for Japan’s great crop, rice.
Irrigation is difficult.

These isolated and discontinuous plains,
peripheral and interior, form the principal
home for the 70 million Japanese who live

main islands contain about three dozen low-
land areas large enough to identify, ranging
from the Kwanto Plain near Tokyo, with
an area of about 2,500 square miles, of
which more than half is diluvial, to strips
a few hundred yards in width and a few
miles in length. In addition to the Kwanto

174

Japan* s Natural Foundations

Plain, the principal lowlands are the Kinai other low and often swampy and usually
Plain around Osaka and Kyoto, the Nobi near the mouth of a short torrential stream.
Plain near Nagoya, the Echigo Plain near The coast is highly irregular and has numer-

The Japanese Alps in central Honshu are a favorite summer resort for many Japanese mountain climbers.

{Emng Galloway.)

Niigata on the western coast of northern ous large embayments on the Pacific side.
Honshu, the Sendai Plain in the northeast, The ratio of 1 mile of coast line to 8.5 square
and the Ishikari, Tokachi, Nemuro, and miles of area, in contrast to 1 to 13 for
Central plains in Hokkaido. Great Britain, reflects the nearness with

Japanese rivers are short, with the long- which the Japanese live to the sea.
cst but 229 miles. Few of them are suitable The geomorphic pattern of Japan proper
for navigation, owing to their swiftness as may be grouped in either of two twofold •
well as to the variation in seasonal flow, divisions. The north differs from the south-
There are noiany possibilities for hydro- west, and even more so the Pacific side
electric power development, but sites for differs from that next to the Sea of Japan,
adequate reservoir storage are seldom These four areas meet west of Tokyo in the
available. Lake Biwa near Kyoto is the Central Mountain Knot, or Japanese Alps,
largest fresh-water body. known to the Japanese as the Hida Range.

Fringing the sea are two types of coast To the east is the downfaulted Fossa
line, one with cliffs and offshore islands, the Magna. Between the young Pacific folded

Climate

175

mountains that form the Outer Zone,
and the Inner Zone of block mountains lies
a linear series of faults and tectonic depres-
sions. From the island of Kyushu in the
southwest to Hokkaido in the north, this
boundary is marked by bold fault scarps
and grabens. Contrasts between Pacific and
Asiatic sides are especially marked in the
southwest.

The Outer Zone along the Pacific has
well-developed parallel ridges and depres-
sions. The mountains are high and rugged,
with few plains, and are underlain by a
regular arrangement of crystalline schists
and of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimen-
taries. Volcanic rocks are rare in the south
but abundant to the north, especially in
Hokkaido. The Inner Zone is a series of
fault block plateaus, dissected into steep-
sided hills and mountains. The geological
structure is that of elongated domes with
ancient sedimentary rocks and granitic
intrusions greatly disturbed but without
regular folding. Faulting and volcanic ac-
tivity are widespread. The Inland Sea lies
between the Inner and Outer Zones and
occupies a series of submerged fault blocks,
whose former mountain peaks now project
as islands. Whereas few summits in the
Outer Zone exceed 3,500 feet, altitudes of
6,000 feet are common in the Inner Zone.

Central Japan is cut by a transverse low-
land which extends from the Pacific to the
Sea of Japan, known as the Fossa Magna.
Along the western margin of this depression
is a fault scarp over 6,000 feet high, and at
its base is a series of grabens. Great vol-
canoes have been poured out along this
zone, notably Mt. Fujiyama, 12,461 feet
high. The highest elevations and most alpine
topography of the country are found just
west of the Fossa Magna, with several
peaks in excess of 10,000 feet.

Vertical zonation dominates the Japanese
scene. Delta plains are bordered by diluvial
terraces. Above them rise low foothills of

weak Tertiary formations which merge
with mountains carved in crystallines or old
sedimentary rocks. Enclosed within these
mountains are numerous alluvial basins at
various elevations. . Alpine land forms are
found near the highest summits. Through-
out the geographic story to follow, the
greatest contrasts are up and down rather
than between north and south. Climate,
forests, agriculture, land use, and settle-
ment all reflect this layering with altitude.

Land forms are thus basic in the under-
standing of how people live in Japan. With
only one-seventh of the land approximately
level, and much of the rest too steep to be
terraced or otherwise utilized except for
forests, the Japanese face inescapable
problems. Viewed from the sea, Japan rises
hill upon hill; seen from the land the
panorama is water, water everywhere. The
two dominant aspects of her physical
setting are thus the restricted extent of
level land and insularity. Over large areas
the Japanese are plainsmen enveloped
in mountains; elsewhere they became
fishermen.

Climate

Japan’s climate cannot be judged by
latitude and solar insolation alone. It is
warmer than comparable parts of China to
the west, yet cooler than Mediterranean
lands on the same parallel. Since the islands
lie off the east coast of a great land mass,
powerful continental influences are modi-
fied by marine conditions.

No simple summary can give an adequate
picture of Japanese climate. The main
islands have a latitudinal extent of a
thousand miles, and the irregularities of
topography introduce sharp vertical con-
trasts. If placed along the Atlantic sea-
board, Japan proper would reach from
Maine to Georgia, while the Empire would
extend from Labrador to Brazil. Although

176

Japan* s Natural Foundations

summer conditions in Japan closely corre-
spond to those in the northeastern United
States, Japanese winters are colder. At
both seasons Japan has higher humidity.
The most populous part of Japan lies in the
latitude of the Carolinas, 400 miles south
of the American center of population.

During the summer, a flow of hot moist
air moves over Japan from the Pacific. In
winter months conditions are reversed with
strong winds, cold and dry, from Siberia.
Thus Tropical Pacific air masses dominate
one season, while Polar Continental air
masses rule the other; of these the latter
are the more dynamic.

Several centers of action account for this
basic circulation. During the winter the
semipermanent anticyclone south of Lake
Baikal pours great quantities of very cold
dry air over Eastern Asia. Two main
streams of this air cross the Japanese
Empire; one moves eastward to the winter
Aleutian low pressure area, the other and
stronger is drawn southward to the equa-
torial low beyond the China Sea. This
merging of clockwise winds from the conti-
nental high pressure area with oceanic low
pressure counterclockwise circulation de-
velops the winter monsoon.

With the arrival of summer, conditions
are reversed. The high temperatures of
northern China and Mongolia give rise to
an area of low pressure. At the same time,
high pressure over the north Pacific is
intensified, producing an outblowing anti-
cyclone. This results in the summer
monsoon.

The winter monsoon blows from the west
in Karafuto, from the northwest over Old
Japan, from the north over the Ryukyu
Islands, and northeast in Formosa. The
summer monsoon has weak winds which
are less dependable. They come from the
southwest in Formosa, south and east over
Japan proper, and east in Karafuto. Al-
though the winter circulation produces

marked temperature contrasts from north
to south, summer conditions are more
nearly uniform throughout. Thus the
January gradient is 2.6®F. per degree of
latitude while in the summer it is 1®F.

Superimposed on this monsoon tendency
is a parade of cyclonic and anticyclonic
storms, moving northeastward out of
China. These introduce a nonperiodic ele-
ment, especially during the winter and
spring. During winter months most of the
disturbances come from the Yangtze Valley;
at other seasons the sources are both
central China and farther north, including
even Siberia. These traveling storms move
the length of the Japanese islands and con-
tinue via the Aleutians and Alaska to the
United States.

During June and July weak tropical lows
cross Japan and bring warm sultry weather.
The rains of this period occur during the
time of the plum blossoms and are known
as the “Plum blossom rains’' or Bai-u. This
is a time of cloudiness, high humidity, pro-
tracted gentle rain, and high sensible
temperatures. Convectional showers occur
during the summer months, often in the
warm sector of cyclonic storms.

When cyclonic whirls cross Japan during
the time of Polar Continental air move-
ments from Asia, the back side of each
cyclonic storm with its northern circu-
lation combines with the winter monsoon
from the same direction to produce power-
ful northwest winds, while on the front
side the two wind tendencies are in oppo-
sition, The reverse tends to be true in
summer, with the southerly component of
the cyclonic storm supplementing the
southern monsoon, except that neither
cyclonic storms nor the movements of
Tropical Pacific air masses are so well
developed at this season. Thus, at all
times, the front and back of each cyclonic
whirl tend alternately to augment or to
cancel the monsoon tendency.

Climate

177

A third factor, typhoons, still further this warm current enters the Japan Sea,
influences this circulation. These storms are where it is known as the Tsushima Current,
apt to occur several times a month in the Thus summer winds from the Pacific are

Western Hokkaido has heavy snowfall for six months of the year although special plows keep the railway open

for traflSc. {Fix.)

late summer and fall. Although less severe
than along the shores of China, serious
damage may result. Destructiveness from
typhoon winds is limited to the southern
coasts, but torrential rain may be wide-
spread with resulting floods from mountain
streams.

The principal oceanic circulation in the
western Pacific is the Kuroshio or Japan
Current, the largest current in any ocean,
with a volume 5,000 times that of the
Mississippi. This bathes the southeastern
shores of Japan, but turns eastward away
from the coast near Tokyo. A branch of

warmed. The winter winds from Asia are
moderated in temperature and given an
increased moisture content as they cross
the Japan Sea, while the warm offshore
Kuroshio lies to leeward of the islands
and is scarcely effective. A minor cold
current from the north, the Oyeshio or
Okhotsk Current, hugs the eastern coast of
Hokkaido and northern Honshu and pro-
duces lower summer temperatures and
considerable fog. The situation is somewhat
comparable to the Gulf Stream and Labra-
dor Current in the Atlantic.

178 Japan^s Naiwral Foundations

All parts of the four main islands have in a few localities. Except along the west
adequate precipitation, but the pattern is coast, the precipitation maximum occurs at
very patchy, owing to relief. Several sta- most stations of Old Japan during the

Three major types of climate are present in the Japanese Empire, that of (o) Northern Japan, chiefly
Holdkaido, Karafuto, and the Kuriles; (b) Central Japan which may be divided into the subregions of South-
western Hokkaido, the Japan Sea side of Honshu, North Korea, South Korea, and the Pacific subregion which
extends from Kyushu to the tip of Korea; and (c) Southern Japan which includes the Ryukyu and Formosa.

'ITie major agricultural regions are fourfold. The first is in the south with two crops of rice a year, largely in
Formosa but with small areas in Old Japan. To the north of it is a region of one rice and one dry crop. Northern
Honshu and northern Korea raise one crop of rice only. The fourth region lies north of the limit of rice.

tions in the south along the Pacific receive summer, a result of the monsoon plus Bai-u
over 125 inches and there is a similar pre- and typhoon rains. Winter winds are dry
cipitation maximum along the central as they blow out from the interior of Asia,
part of the Japan side. Rainfall in but in crossing the Japan Sea they acquire
interior basins only drops below 40 inches some moisture and yield heavy snowfcdl on

Climate

179

the western slopes of Honshu and Hokkaido.
Snow remains on the ground along the west
coast as far south as central Honshu; on the
Pacific side, in contrast, only the northern
end of the island has a snow cover.

August is the hottest month except in
Formosa where July temperatures reach
the maximum. Tropical clothing is worn
everywhere during the summer even in
Hokkaido, and the high humidity and
sultry air are enervating. South of Tokyo,
books, shoes, and clothing are quickly
covered with mildew in summer. Mosquito
nets are required almost the year around in
southern Japan. The July temperature
difference from southern Kyushu to central
Hokkaido is but 9°F., whereas in January
the range is 29®F.

Since the populous part of Japan is
toward the south, many people spend some
time in mountain or seaside resorts. For
one not accustomed to it, it is particularly
desirable to avoid the period of the “Plum
blossom ” rains from mid-June to mid-July.

The frost-free period, essentially equiva-
lent to the growing season, ranges from 120
days in the interior of Hokkaido and 160
days in mountainous Honshu to 240 days
along the southeastern coast. Thus two
crops of rice may be grown in parts of
Kyushu, Shikoku, and the southern penin-
sulas of Honshu.

Various attempts have been made to
subdivide the Japanese Empire into cli-
matic divisions. In the Koeppen classifica-
tion, all of Old Japan except the highlands
of northern Honshu belongs to the Cfa
(mild winter, always humid, hot summer)
type, while Hokkaido and Karafuto are
classed as Dfh (severe winter, humid, cool
summers). Most of Korea is Dwb (severe
winter, summer rain, cool summer).

In terms of climatic conditions as they
distinctly apply to Japan itself, Fukui has
prepared a new classification in which the
Empire is divided into three major divi-

sions.^ These are shown on page 178. The
first is northern Japan which includes
the Karafuto and Hokkaido provinces, the
former with five months with mean tem-
peratures below freezing and the latter with
four. Precipitation on the lowlands ranges
from 25 to 40 inches, decreasing toward the
north. Central Japan is the second division,
characterized by moderate climates and a
mean annual temperature below 68°F. It
has five provinces: southwest Hokkaido,
somewhat warmer than the rest of the
island ; north Korea with cold winters as in
northern Japan but warmer summers and
25 inches of rainfall, the lowest precipita-
tion in the Empire; south Korea, also dry
but warmer than the north; the Japan Sea
province with abundant winter snow which
exceeds the summer precipitation; and the
Pacific province, characterized by a sum-
mer precipitation maximum and mild sun-
shiny winters. This includes all of eastern
and southern Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu,
and the tip of Korea. A third climatic
division is southern Japan, with mean
annual temperatures of more than 68®F.
Separate provinces provide for the Liuchiu
or Ryukyu Islands, the Ogasawara Islands,
and Formosa.

There is a noticeable contrast between
the cloudy and cool Japan seacoast, known
as the shady side, and the warm Pacific
coast, known as the sunny side.

Despite the wide contrasts within the
Empire, all lowland areas except in the far
north have adequate warmth and rainfall
for agriculture. Slight differences in altitude
result in marked differences in land use.
Variations in orographic rainfall, tempera-
ture gradients, air drainage, and the length
of critical growing periods restrict certain
crops to certain elevations. This vertical
zonation brings together within a few miles

^ Fukui, E., Climatic Division of Japan, Oeographi-
cal Review of Japan, IX (1933), 1-19, 109-1*7, 195-
*19, *71-300 (in Japanese with English summary).

182 Japan’s Natural Foundations

Metric Tons

Proved reserves 5,960,000,000

Probable reserves 4,045,000,000

Possible reserves 6,685,000,000

Total reserves 16,690,000,000

These are distributed between Hokkaido,
with 8,000,000,000 metric tons chiefly in
the Ishikari Plain, Kyushu with 6,000,000,-
000, and Honshu with 2,500,000,000.
Reserves elsewhere in the Empire account
for 2,500,000,000, giving a total for all
Japan of something over 19,000,000,000
metric tons. Because of difficulties of min-
ing, no more than half of this is economically
usable.

Since the development of modern coal
mining 60 years ago, the leading area of
production has been northwestern Kyushu
which supplies about two-thirds the output.
Most of this comes from the Chikuho field
south of Moji. The production of Japan
proper reached 20,000,000 metric tons in
1912 and has been above 30,000,000 metric
tons since 1933, except for two depres-
sion years. In 1941 production probably
amounted to 55,500,000 metric tons within
the Empire, which includes imports amount-
ing to 5,000,000 metric tons from Korea,
2,500,000 each from Formosa and Sakhalin,
and 4,000,000 metric tons from outside
the Empire, largely China and Indo-China.
Japanese coal is well suited for steamship
boilers, so that Nagasaki has long been
an important bunkering point for steamers
from Europe and across the Pacific. Since
domestic coal is generally unfit for metal-
lurgical coke, it is necessary to import
suitable coal from Penhsihu in Manchuria,
Kaiping in north China, and Hongay in
Indo-China.

Japan’s per capita reserves, even includ-
ing all possible deposits, amount to but 238
tons per capita as compared with 4,070 for
the United Kingdom and 27,500 for the
United States. Although production may
be expected to continue for many years

and should prove adequate for domestic •
needs in time of peace, there is no likeli-
hood that Japan can increase her produc-
tion of this basic source of power so as to
compete in heavy industries with the lead-
ing countries of the world. Any great in-
dustralization must rest on imported coal.

The second great source of modern power
is petroleum. Japan’s two dozen producing
districts extend from Karafuto in the north
to Formosa in the south, with the principal
area in the Niigata and Akita prefectures
on the Japan Sea side of Honshu. There are
about 4,000 wells, yielding an average
production of less than two barrels per day.
The 1941 production in Japan proper of
2,659,000 barrels is approximately equal to
the daily yield in the United States, and
represents but 0.1 per cent of the world
production. An additional 1,000,000 barrels
is secured from Formosa and concessions in
Soviet Sakhalin. Despite strenuous govern-
mental efforts over the past decade, there is
little geological prospect that the output
can be materially increased. Whereas im-
ports in 1931 were seven times domestic
yield, by 1939 imports had increased to
over eight times domestic production.

In addition to large imports from the
United States and the Netherlands Indies
prior to the Second World War, fuel oil
for the navy was distilled from oil shale in
Manchuria. In 1939 the consumption of oil
products in Japan amounted to 25,400,000
barrels. No commercial supplies of natural
gas are reported.

The rugged topography and heavy
precipitation of the central mountainous
area lend themselves to the development
of water power. In 1936 the total consump-
tion of hydroelectric power amounted to
nearly 20 billion kilowatt-hours as com-
pared with yearly 5 billion kilowatt-hours
of electricity produced by coal. Despite
the 50 per cent growth of hydroelectric
power in the previous five years, it was

Mineral Resources

183

not possible to meet the demands, so that three load centers around the Japanese
the use of thermal-electric power increased Alps: Tokyo and Yokohama; Kyoto,
by 250 per cent. Japan still has undeveloped Osaka, and Kobe; and Nagoya.

Japan’s limited coal districts are shown in black, the oil regions are in ruled lines, and the sources of iron ore are
indicated by a capital /. Only the coal is adequate for domestic needs.

water-power sites, but they are mostly
small in size and lack adequate reservoir
storage to equalize the highly seasonal flow.
Out of an ultimate theoretical production of
10 million kilowatts, half is already in use.
In 1936 there were 12,176,098 customers,
but the number of lamps was but 3.6
apiece. The major use of electricity is in

Japan’s resources of iron ore are espe-
cially insufficient. Reserves for the entire
Empire are estimated at 90,000,000 metric
tons, of which 10,000,000 are in Korea.
This compares with some 5,000,000,000 tons
in the United States. Less than a dozen
deposits are in commercial production in
Japan proper. Domestic output of iron

184

Ja'parCs Natural Foundations

ore in Japan proper for 1941 amounted to Although Japan imported S5 per cent
935,000 metric tons largely in Hokkaido, of her pig iron, the use of large quantities
which was but 13 per cent of the require- of imported scrap enabled her to carry on a

The hydroelectric plant on the Kiso River northeast of Nagoya has a capacity of 40,000 kilowatts. {Ewing

Galloway.)

ments. The fivefold increase in the preced- slight export of steel, chiefly to her colonies
ing decade reflects strenuous mining efforts and to Manchuria.

rather than large reserves. The deficiency Copper was the second most important
was met by importations from Korea, mineral product in Japan until 1935, and
Tayeh in the central Yangtze Valley the country ranks seventh in world pro-
amounting to nearly 500,000 metric tons duction. At one time Japan had a large
in 1940, Johore and elsewhere in Malaya surplus for export, but prior to the Second
to the extent of 1,874,000 metric tons in World War she found it necessary to
1940, and the Philippine Islands which import substantial quantities of copper,
supplied 1,236,000 metric tons in the same largely from the United States. The 1941
year. British India has supplied as much production was 118,000 metric tons, plus
as 1,000,000 tons annually plus 300,000 4,000 tons each in Korea and Formosa,

tons of pig iron. Australia has shipped The production of gold and silver has
several hundred thousand tons a year. long been of nominal importance, but in

Mineral Resources

185

the lOSO’s the output grew rapidly, so duction of tin and chromium. There are no
that the value of gold production passed domestic ores of aluminum in Japan proper,
that of copper in 1936. Korea has overtaken but bauxite has been discovered in the

Japan's raw materials are diversified but for the most part are of limited quantity. Fuels are shown by
shadow letters; C for coal and O for oil. Minerals are in vertical letters; Au — gold, ("u — copper, Fe — iron ore,
G — graphite, Mn — manganese, Pb — lead, Sn — tin, S — sulphur, W — tungsten, Zn — zinc. Industrial agricultural
products of significance are shown in italics: Si — silk, Co — cotton.

Japan proper in gold mining. By 1940 the
gold production within the Empire was
valued at $85,000,000. Three-fourths of
the silver output is obtained as a by-
product in the smelting of copper.

Zinc is much more plentiful than lead,
amounting to about 60,000 and 15,000
tons, respectively. There is also some pro-

Palu group of the Mandated Islands. Less
than half Japan’s manganese is obtained
at home. Korea contributes nearly 80,000
tons of graphite.

The most noteworthy nonmetallic re-
source of the islands is sulphur, one of the
basic tonnage materials needed for indus-
try. High-grade deposits are widely distrib-

186

Japan^s Natural Foundations

utedy usually in association witli volcanic as shown by the figures in the accom*
rocks. TJbe production in 1940 amounted to panying table.^

Area

1913

1919

1931

1936

Japan proper

146.849.000
8,204,000

159.186.000

641,128,200

25,415,000

677,864,000

241.826.000
21,742,000

283.282.000

589.400.000

110.430.000

746.089.000

Korea

Empire total

240,000 metric tons. The availability of
sulphur furnishes a basis for the growth of
such industries as paper, celluloid, and
rayon. About a third of the production is
available for export. Phosphate rock is
mined in the Mandated Islands.

Salt is obtained from sea water, but the
high humidity does not favor solar evapora-
tion. Production around the Inland Sea is
barely sufficient for salt in foodstuffs, and
most of the industrial needs, which are
twice those of foodstuff salt, are secured
from East Africa and the North China
coast.

Despite strenuous efforts for many
years to increase the home supply of
minerals, the percentage of import remains
high. Thus in 1931 production of natural
resources within the Empire amounted to
283,000,000 yen, with supplementary im-
ports of 220,000,000 yen, a total sufficiency
of 60 per cent. In 1936 the internal supply
was valued at 746,000,000 yen which
accounted for 61 per cent of the total with
net imports amounting to 660,000,000 yen.
The production of minerals within greater
Japan has fiuctuated widely since 1913,

It may be of interest to compare the
production of certain basic resources in the
Japanese Empire with those in the United
States. America’s output of copper is
7 times that of Japan; coal 10 times; iron
40 times; and oil 432 times. In comparing
these figures, it should of course be borne
in mind that the population of the United
States is 25 per cent greater than that of
the Japanese Empire.

The geology of Japan and her possessions
is now well enough known to make it
abundantly clear that there is no likelihood
of great industrial developments in terms
of her own mineral resources. There is not
even enough for domestic needs, let alone
world trade. Fortunately, Japan does have
coal, although it lacks coking qualities.
Economic or political conditions may make
it feasible to import ores from the main-
land, but it does not seem likely that Japan
can permanently enjoy a dominant posi-
tion in the mineral industry of eastern
Asia. Her industrial future would appear to
rely upon such resources as cheap labor,
limited agricultural products, and skill.

1 The Japan-Manchoukuo Yearbook, Tokyo (ld40),
337.

Chapter 11

THE HUMAN RESPONSE IN JAPAN

The People

Japan’s greatest assets, and likewise her
greatest problems, concern people. Over
70 million live on the main islands and
30 million more elsewhere in the Empire.
Within Japan proper the net annual in-
crease has been over a million people in
some years. Where can these islanders live,
what can they do, how shall they be fed?
Population pressure is no mere abstraction;
it is an inescapable and increasing problem.

Japanese origins go back into obscurity.
The earliest authenticated records date
from the first century a.d., although
legendary history places the first Emperor
Jimmu in 660 b.c. Several racial elements
have contributed to the people and culture
of today. Some strains came from the
south and are Indonesian, Malayo-Polyne-
sian, and southern coastal Mongoloid;
others are northern Mongoloid from within
Asia. In terms of physical ethnography the
southerly contribution is slightly dominant;
culturally Asiatic influences are stronger.

Most of this blending preceded the
beginnings of the Christian era and can be
deciphered only by archeological evidence.
The Japanese adoption of Tang dynasty
civilization, Confucianism, many Chinese
arts, and Buddhism is well known. On the
other hand, house types and short stature
point southward. One illustration will
sufiice. The Japanese custom of eating raw
fish is found also in the East Indies, in
Ceylon, and in Madagascar, but almost
nowhere on the continent, A few alien
tribes of boat people in southern China eat

uncooked fish, but not the Chinese them-
selves.

Within the islands are three ancient
culture centers. In southern Kyushu is the
Satsuma area, which received racial and
cultural contributions from the coast of
south China prior to the arrival of the
Chinese, from the South Seas, and possibly
Oceania by way of the Liuchiu archipelago.
On the west coast of Honshu was the local
Izumo culture, closely allied to Korea and
the Amur Valley tribes. The Yamato cul-
ture flourished in central Honshu and gave
rise to the present civilization of Japan;
it is in part a fusion of Satsuma and Izumo
types. Its early contacts were with central
and northern China, Korea, and even India.
Each of these was to some extent super-
imposed on the indigenous Ainu culture, a
very early human type which once covered
most of the islands but is now pushed
northward to Hokkaido.

Thus from the beginning, the Japanese
have been a mixed group, influenced by
imported cultures. Unlike self-suflScient
China, Japan has been accustomed to
cultural borrowing and adaptation. Other
peoples were not necessarily barbarians
without civilization. Such a historical
frame of mind with its willingness to learn
may help to explain the rapidity with
which modern Japan has accepted ideas
from the European world. Perhaps too,
ethnography may suggest some of Japan’s
difficulties in understanding Chinese men-
tality and point to the South Seas as a
more logical path of expansion.

187

188

The Human Response in Japan

The beginnings of Japanese life were in 1876-1879. Pomosa was in

all in the southwest, in Kyushu and 1895 , the KurUes taken over m 1875, and
western Honshu. As time progressed the a beginning toward mainland possessions

Japan’s population is strikingly concentrated in the coastal lowlands and interior valleys. The densest belt of
population of Old Japan extends through the Inland Sea eastward to the Kwanto Plain in Tokyo.

Ainus were driven northward, but only
with much difficulty. Lake Biwa marked
an important boundary in early historic
times, and the main island was not com-
pletely conquered until the close of the
tenth century. Japan’s imperial expansion
is not a matter of the twentieth century
alone. Much of the Liuchiu or Ryukyu
chain was acquired in 1609 and the rest

was made in the Sino-Japanese War of
1894-1895. Korea was occupied during
part of the seventeenth century.

The seventy million people of the main
islands are distributed in close agreement
with land forms. Wherever there are level
land and fertile soil, no matter how sur-
rounded by mountains, there are people.
Modem urbanization but emphasizes this

189

The People

pattern. So close is the correspondence. Fragmentation and microdetail are as true
that a map of population is at the same time of population patterns as of surface
a good representation of land forms, or configuration.

r-i

Jy.

s ,

Japanese rooms are separated by sliding partitions and the floors are covered with matting which is kept
clean since shoes are removed upon entering a home. The maid is carrying a tub of rice. {Germaine Kellerman^
courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

equally of cultivated land. Vertical zona- Population figures for the two centuries
tion is obvious, for the areas of population of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1602—1867)
concentration are all lowlands, and the' appear to be remarkably uniform, with
density decreases with altitude. The Japa- little variation from twenty-six million,
nese live near sea level, and the good land After the restoration of the Emperor Meiji
is already filled to capacity and more. in 1868, the population rapidly increased.

Few regions have uniform population dis- By 1925, the population had doubled,
tributions. Even the pattern of the Kwanto and even the rate of increase was rising.
Plain around Tokyo is highly irregular. In some measure, these additional millions
owing to the distribution of alluvium and are the responsibility of Admiral Perry^
diluvium. Everywhere mountains interrupt who opened Japan in 1853 and brought in
settlement, so that isolation and difficulty the disrupting influences of the western
of access characterize the human scene, world.

190

The Human Response in Japan

In 1940, the population of Japan proper tion density in 1938 was 893 per square mile
numbered73,114,308.Thatof the chief cities for the Empire or 490 in Japan proper.

follows: Such figures become meaningful only

City Population when seen in the light of cultivated area.

Tokyo 6,778,804 In such a comparison, Japan has 3,116

Osaka 8,252,840 people for each square mile of tilled land.

Nagoya 1,828,084 Ijjrth rate stood at 30.3 per

Skow. .

967,234 The net increase reached 1,0x8,d» 3 in
Hiroshima 843,968 1 935 but declined to 653,000 in 1939 and

from greater yields per acre (1 cho equals 2.45 acres); some from additional acreage. {After Orchardy Japan's
Economic Position.'*)

For 1938 in the dependencies of Korea, 239,000 in 1940. Among large countries,
Formosa, and Karafuto there were 24,- Japan’s birth rate stood next to India
327,326, 5,746,959, and 339,357, respec- (34.9) and was nearly twice that of the
tively; the leased territory of Kwantung in United States (16.7).
southern Manchuria, the South Manchuria With four babies bom every minute.
Railway zone, and the mandated South Sea and no room for more agriculture, Japan
Islands ^counted for an additional 1,339,- faces her greatest difficulty. Fortunately
128, giving a grand total of 105,226,101 each new mouth provides a pair of hands.
(1940). In terms of total area, the popula- So long as foreign trade flourishes or there

Agriculture

191

is a war boom, there is a job for them in a
factory or the army. Emigration has failed
to care for the surplus, since the Japanese
have shown little inclination to colonize
either in their own Hokkaido or in Man-
churia, or in subtropical areas such as
Brazil. Immigration barriers keep them out
of many countries.

Faced with agricultural overpopulation,
the country has turned to industry; but
without an adequate base of supplies or
market at home, industrial Japan must
first import raw materials and then export
manufactured goods. A policy of inter-
national good will would thus seem impera-
tive, but instead the nation turned to the
gamble of war. Without a clear military
victory and the subsequent economic
exploitation of Asia, Japan may experience
a serious decline. Her skills and resources
should easily make her an excellent second-
class nation, but they scarcely qualify her
for the domination of the western Pacific
and eastern Asia.

Malthusian principles are still effective.
No nation has a moral right to allow its
population to exceed the productive ca-
pacity of its domain unless it is willing to
accept a lower standard of living. Mere
population pressure does not entitle a
country to seize the land of its neighbor,
especially when that neighbor is equally
pressed. The world is now full, and the
regulation of population has become one
of the most essential of international prob-
lems. Reckless increase without correspond-
ing technological advance can lead only to
chaos.

Agriculture

Japan is still a nation of farmers.
Despite current urbanization and indus-
trialization, 43 per cent of all households
were occupied in farming in 1940. This
proportion has declined from 64 per cent
in 1903. Even factory workers are closely

tied to the land, for many of them were
born on a farm where their parents still
live. Serious difficulties of increased costs
of operation, rising taxes, and uncertain
cash income make agrarian problems
acute.

The area under cultivation in 1937 was
14,940,000 acres. This is 15.8 i>er cent of
the total area of Japan proper, and com-
pares with 10,615,000 acres or 40 per cent
in Ohio, and 12,881,000 acres and 21 per
cent of the United Kingdom. The ratio of
cultivated land has increased slowly, rising
from 11.8 per cent in 1887 to 13.7 per cent
in 1902, 14.4 per cent in 1912, and 15.7
per cent in 1919. In 1929 the figure dropped
to 15.4 per cent. Apparently the economic
maximum has been reached. Any further
addition to the present cultivated acreage
will depend upon expensive irrigation,
drainage, or fertilization. Large areas of
diluvial upland areas remain uncultivated,
seemingly because they are unusable for
rice culture.

Farm households number 5,374,897, so
that the tilled area per family is but 2.67
acres; in comparison, the United States
averages 155 acres. This average size is
quadrupled in Hokkaido and reduced to
less than two acres in the southwest. Not
only are the farms everywhere small, but
70 per cent are below the average size and
34 per cent are under 1 acres. As a result
of generations of feudal subdivision, each
farm has come to embrace several widely
scattered plots, which are in turn divided
into tiny unfenced fields, a sixth to a tenth
of an acre in size. In some localities, govern-
mental action has caused a consolidation
with some resulting increase in yields.
The uneconomic fragmentation has its
minor advantages, for a flood or crop failure
in some fields still leaves the farmer with a
yield elsewhere.

Irrigated fields, universally in rice,
account for 54 per cent of the crop area

192

The Human Response in Japan

while unirrigated upland farms, usually on Two successive harvests of rice per year
diluvium, represent 46 per cent. Rice is are found only in Formosa and the extreme
the master crop and the characteristic food south coast of Shikoku and Kyushu. As

The scarcity of level land makes it necessary to terrace every hillside that can be flooded. {Germaine Kellerman,

courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

from the extreme south almost to the
north. As elsewhere in the Orient, it is
generally sown in seedbeds and transplanted
by hand in flooded fields. Skillful cultiva-
tion, fertilization, and scientific seed devel-
opment have raised the yield to 43 bushels
per acre (1936).

Japanese canals, unlike those in China,
are used for irrigation only and are thus
mere ditches. In order to keep the land
flooded, ridges a foot or so wide and high
separate individual fields, and the surplus
water is led from one level to another.
Narrow paths follow the tops of some of
these miniature dikes, or they may be
planted to a row of mulberry trees, soy-
beans, or other dry crops.

far north as Sendai two crops are inter-
planted, one maturing several weeks in
advance of the other. Sixty per cent of the
rice fields are left fallow during the winter;
many remain flooded since they are too
low to be properly drained. Winter crop-
ping is negligible north of Sendai, but
common in the south. This idle land in a
country so pressed for food as Japan is
puzzling, but its fallow character apparently
reflects an inability to grow a crop. Where
rice fields are planted to fall crops, these
are wheat, barley, rapeseed, or radishes.
Because of wet soil the earth is heaped into
ridges on which seeds are sown. Intervening
depressions are often flooded by the winter
rains.

Agriculture

The domestic supply of rice is inadequate
for the expanding population, so that nearly
a fifth of the needs must be obtained from
Formosa and Korea. The available supplies
in these areas are apparently used to the
limit, so that further population increase
must be fed from abroad. The export of rice
from Korea is made possible only by the
importation of cheaper millet from Man-
churia for the Koreans.

Wheat, rye, barley, oats, and rapeseed
account for about half the area devoted to
rice. They are grown as spring crops in
Hokkaido, or as fall crops in Old Japan
either on paddy fields after the rice harvest
or on uplands after a crop of beans or
vegetables. With the introduction of west-
ern culture, there is an increasing con-
sumption of bread, so that wheat production
has risen 60 per cent since 1932, making
Japan almost self-sufficient. Sweet potatoes
are a large crop in the south, with some
white potatoes in the north. Carbohydrates
represent an overabundant proportion of
Japanese diet.

Despite the widespread use of tea, less
than half of one per cent of all cropland is
devoted to its production. Diluvial uplands
and steep terraced hill slopes are usually
selected, especially in the vicinity of
Shizuoka.

Silk is the great cash crop of the Japanese
farmer and mulberry leaves for feeding the
silkworms are raised everywhere south of
Sendai. A quarter of all the upland fields
in crops is given over to mulberry, notably
in central Honshu in the hinterland of
Yokohama. In several interior basins, such
as Suwa, mulberry occupies over half of
the cultivated area. Many rice farmers in
the lowlands have a small patch of mul-
berry, or scattered trees around the house
or fields.

Other cash crops are flax and hemp,
pyrethrum, tobacco, peppermint, and cam-
phor. Common vegetables include the giant

193

radish known as daikon for pickles; soy,
kidney, and red beans; peas; and taro.
Interculture is common, and several crops
a year may be grown on the same field.

Fruit is extensively and increasingly
grown. Mandarin oranges lead, followed by
persimmons, apples, pears, grapes, and
peaches. Apples are raised in the highlands
of Honshu and Korea, and in Hokkaido.
Oranges grow best in southern Japan.

The animal industry is conspicuously
undeveloped, and the few horses or cattle
are largely kept for draft purposes on the
farm. Dairy cows amount to 40 per cent
of all animals in Hokkaido but are uncom-
mon to the south. Pigs are even less
abundant than horses, and sheep are rare.
The scarcity of animals reflects the pressure
of human population for food and may also
be accounted for by the lack of good
pasture, the poor native grasses, the long
hot summers, and the reluctance of the
Japanese rice farmer to keep animals.
From the earliest times, fish has taken the
place of meat in the diet. The total protein
diet for the Japanese is 11 per cent, as
compared with 45 per cent for Americans
and Europeans.

Food for seventy million people living
on islands requires that crop yields be at
a maximum. Unfortunately Japanese soils
are poor. The diluvium is usually sandy and
sterile, uplands are leached, and soils devel-
oped on volcanic parent materials are
infertile. Only by the most painstaking and
repeated fertilization can adequate crops
be grown. In the production of rice, the
expense of fertilizer stands next to wages
in the average cost distribution. Com-
mercial fertilizers such as bean or other oil
cake, waste from fish or from silk cocoons,
and prepared minerals are valued at three-
fourths the consumption of farm-supplied
manure which includes compost, human
excrement or night soil, and green manure.
Little barnyard manure is available, so

Agriculture

195

The top of the rice is separated from the stalk by drawing it through a comb. {Courtesy Presbyterian Board of

Foreign Missions.)

196

The Human Response in Japan

that the fanner must make an extensive enterprises still require support and few
cash outlay. brmg much income to the government.

Modem science has added UtUe to Japa- Mounting fiscal requirements have

Silkworms are raised in the home and the cocoons are spun in nests of straw. These women are preparing the

cocoons for shipment to a filature.

nese agriculture other than commercial
fertilizer, seed improvement, and protection
from crop diseases. Machinery is impractical
in the tiny fields, so that the spade and hoe
and, to some extent, the plow remain the
traditional tools. Power for pumping irriga-
tion water is usually too expensive.

Agriculture has carried the burden of
modernization in Japan. When the country
set out to industrialize, farmers provided
the chief available source of taxation.
Through rising taxes on farm land, the
government was able to subsidize railroads,
shipping, and industry of all sorts, and to
build up an army and navy. Many of these

brought increased taxes. The farmer in
turn was forced to find a cash income,
and for many years this was supplied by
Japan’s great export, raw silk. With the
proceeds from American purchases of silk,
the farmer paid the government and it
in turn continued to aid industry. With the
collapse of the silk market in the early
1930’s, the farmer was obliged to mortgage
his holdings in order to meet tax payments.
World- wide depression accompanied by
difficulties in Japan’s export sales of cotton
textiles and other manufactured goods,
plus war in China and with the United
States, has added to the internal problem.

Fishing

In 1911 the average indebtedness of the
farmer amounted to 135 yen per house-
hold (the yen had a par value of $0.50).
By 1937 it had risen to 1,000 yen, and the
total farm debt was some 6 billion yen.
This compares with a net annual income,
after deducting farm and household ex-
penses, of 132.7 yen per family. Many
readjustment plans have been proposed,
but the problem remains unsolved. Political
attempts to raise the price of rice and silk
have met with little success. Interest rates
are exorbitant, and marketing systems
monopolistic.

The situation is further aggravated by
preferential income taxes. “In the annual
income group of 300 yen, peasant pro-
prietors paid 35 per cent in taxes while
manufacturers paid 1.5 and traders 12.5
per cent. In the 500 yen group, landlords
paid 51, peasant proprietors 31.5, manu-
facturers 18, and traders 14 per cent,
approximately.”^ A farmer or rural land-
owner with an income of 5,000 yen had an
income tax of 1,395 yen while if he lived
in a city the amount would be 701 yen.
These figures were compiled by the Im-
perial Agricultural Association which pro-
tests the continued subsidization of industry
by agriculture.

Wide variations in agriculture exist
from place to place within Japan. These
will be discussed in the subsequent regional
chapters.

Fishing

Crowded Japan looks out on a friendly
sea. Typhoons occasionally devastate the
shores, but there are innumerable harbors.
Sheltered waters such as the Inland Sea
invite the fisherman and trader. The
waters around Japan comprise the greatest
fishing grounds of the world. Both in ton-
nage and value, the catch exceeds that of

1 Holland, William L., The Plight of Japanese
Agriculture, Far Eastern Survey y V (1936), 4.

197

any other country. Japan is responsible for
half the world’s catch, and fish are the
seventh most important basic export from

Japan is the leading fishing nation of the world, with
great numbers of near-shore craft such as these, as
well as modern deep-sea boats. {Germaine Kellerman,
courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

Japan. These pastures of the sea furnish a
considerable part of the Japanese diet, for
fish is an integral part of every meal.

Fishing interests characterize all shores
of Japan. The calm Inland Sea, the stormy
Chishima or Kurile Islands, and the coasts
of Honshu each has its fishing villages.
In many instances, these settlements
fringe a narrow gravel beach for a mile or
more, backed by mountains so that vir-
tually no level land is available for agricul-
ture. Houses line the shore just above
high-tide mark, often clinging to the cliffs.
The beach is strewn with boats, nets, and
drying fish. Contact with the rest of Japan
may be exclusively by boat. Many of these
villages reflect the poverty of those who
engage in the industry, for the more

198

The Human Response in Japan

important fishing activities are in the hands
of large corporations and the operators are
but hired hands.

seasonal fishermen. The total catch credited
to those living in Japan proper was valued
at 358,500,000 yen in 1938, about a tenth

Most of the diving for culture pearls is carried on by Japanese girls. The oysters are planted in sheltered bays.
{Germaine Kellerman, courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

Off the east coast flows the warm Kuro-
shio or Japan Current with a branch that
enters the Japan Sea, while cold currents
circulate in both the Sea of Okhotsk and
the Japan Sea. Thus varied environments
offer a habitat for many kinds of aquatic
life. The limited supplies of food on the
land, the coastal character of the popu-
lation, and the highly indented shore line
all tend to push people to the sea. Within
the present century, fishing has expanded
from a littoral and small-boat industry to
one that ranges from the sub-Arctic to
Antarctica.

Over a million and a half people are
engaged in fishing, nearly half of whom are

the value of agriculture. An additional
122,000,000 yen in Korea, Formosa, Kara-
futo, and the South Seas raises the Empire
total to 480,000,000 yen.

Coastwise and near-shore fishing account
for 61 per cent, with the leading items of the
catch in order as follows: sardines; sea-
weeds for food, fertilizer, fodder, or iodine;
salmon; cuttle fish; yellow tail; and shell-
fish. Out of the total of 364,260 boats only
one-fifth have engines, so that most of the
near-shore catch is obtained in picturesque
sail or rowboats which return home each
night.

Deep-sea fishing represents 28 per cent
of the total industry, with the balance

Fishing

199

fjovered by whaling, coral and pearl collec- newal of leases for these concessions have
tion, and aquiculture on the land. Sardine, been a recurrent source of international
cod, bonito, shark, mackerel, and tuna are friction . Whereas Soviet-operated fisheries

Seaweeds provide a considerable part of the Japanese diet. Thin pieces are spread on frames to dry. {E. Suito.)

the leading fish. Modern refrigeration has along these coasts once represented but a
made it possible for Japanese vessels to tenth of the total production, they now
operate in the far north, even along the exceed the Japanese catch. On account of
coasts of Alaska. Floating canneries pre- population increases in Siberia and for
pare large amounts of crab and salmon for strategic reasons as well, the U.S.S.R.
export. In 1938 these factory ships canned would like to terminate the agreement,
204,000 cases of crab meat and 370,300* but the 20,000 Japanese workers and the
cases of salmon. Four Japanese whaling annual catch of 50 million yen represent a
ships were in Antarctic waters in 1938. vital interest for Japan.

Under the Treaty of Portsmouth (1905), Since Japan’s emergence toward the
which closed the Russo-Japanese War, close of the nineteenth century, she has
Japanese fishermen were given certain built a merchant marine that ranked third
rights along the coasts of the Soviet Mari- among world powers at the beginning of the
time Provinces, Kamchatka and Sakhalin. Second World War. Furthermore her navy
Specified fishing ‘‘lots” are provided on dominated the western Pacific. This rapid
lease, and agreements concerning the re- maritime expansion reflects the intimate

200

The Human Response in J apan

familiarity with the sea and its ways which limited to a few areas. The typical factory
is a feature of Japan. Even though isolation is a family workshop employing members
characterized earlier centuries, fishing has of the household and two or three relatives.

Swift-flowing canals run through many Japanese villages. This water wheel provides a source of power for a
roadside mill. {De Cou, from Eiving Oalloway.)

always been important. Fisheries are schools
of seamanship, for those who live on the
water learn to read the clouds and find their
way over horizonless seas.

Industry

In the statistical analysis of twentieth-
century Japan, few items are more spec-
tacular than the rise of industry. Although
most of the modern industry is in the larger
cities, even rural landscapes are changed.
Modern factories literally pop out of the
rice fields. Cities have grown enormously
and have cosmopolitan cores, but residen-
tial sections are still old style. Towering
factories with their smoke and noise are
uncommon, and western-style industry is

Current population increases cannot be
absorbed on the farms; hence there is a
large labor surplus available to industry at
nominal cost. Wages, which were once very
low, have been considerably raised, but
costs of urban living have increased even
faster so that the lot of factory employees is
still marginal. Rising costs of labor within
Japan have led some Japanese industrialists
to move their plants to China with its
reservoir of cheap labor.

Japanese industry is highly monopolistic
and subsidized by the government. Most
of it is in the hands of a few great families,
such as the Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Sumi-
tomo. Through various corporations, these
houses own banks, shipping lines, textile

Fishing

mills, heavy industries, import and export
firms, and even control much of the handi-
craft. The activity of these giant combines
has extended Japan’s trade to the comers
of the world. Wherever there is a market
for goods that Japan is able to produce,
these firms have made her a serious com-
petitor. The foundation of Japan’s newer
export industry is the fabrication of other
peoples’ raw materials into articles to fit
the tastes and pocketbooks of overseas
customers.

Small-sized factories are characteristic;
in fact the gradation from family handi-
craft to small shops is imperceptible.
Nearly two-thirds of the workers are in
establishments using five employees or less,
and another quarter in plants with between
five and ten. Over one-third of all employees
are women, chiefly in cotton mills and silk
filatures.

In the decade from 1927 to 1937, manu-
facturing increased two and a half fold,
reaching 16,412,000,000 yen. This is three
times the value of agriculture, although the
number of workers is but one-third. Tex-
tiles have long been first, but the relative
percentage has declined from 41.4 in 1926
to 23.8 in 1937. Metallic industries rose
from 6.4 per cent in 1926 to 20.5 in 1937.
Chemicals accounted for 18.6 per cent, and
machines and tools for 14.5 per cent in 1937.

The distribution of industry corresponds
with the belt of densest population with its
labor supply and markets; the availability
of silk, electric power, and coal; and ade-
quate harbors for overseas raw materials
and markets.

The Inland Sea plus an extension east-
ward to Tokyo marks the industrial core of
Japan. From Nagasaki to Tokyo is 600
miles, and along this line is a discontinuous
collection of factory towns. Four areas
stand out: the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto region is
first, followed by Tokyo- Yokohama, Na-
goya, and northern Kyushu.

201

The outstanding Osaka area specializes
in Japan’s leading product, cotton textiles.
More than with most Japanese cities,
Osaka industry is housed in large struc-
tures. Iron and steel fabrication and ship-
building are important. Osaka lies at the
head of a shallow bay that has been dredged
for ocean vessels. Previously all larger
ships were obliged to dock at near-by
Kobe. Both cities are now ports, with Kobe
taking first place in the nation and Osaka
third. Shipbuilding is important in each.
Whereas Osaka has ample level land, Kobe
unfortunately lies on a narrow alluvial fan
with inadequate room for industry. Inland
Kyoto, the old imperial capital, is in
marked contrast as an industrial center.
It is not a modem city, and specializes in
artistic crafts such as silk weaving, pottery,
cloisonne, lacquer, bamboo, bronzes, and
toys. The Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto region lacks
both cheap power and raw materials. It
does have abundant labor and a central
market.

Tokyo and Yokohama have more indus-
trial diversification than Osaka. Like Osaka,
Tokyo lies at the head of a shallow bay but,
unlike Osaka, the harbor has not been
adequately dredged so that most shipping
must stop at Yokohama. In the hinterland
lies the chief silk area, and Yokohama is
the closest port of shipment for the
American market. Silk reeling and weaving,
machinery, electrical goods, printing, and
a wide variety of labor-consuming indus-
tries center here. Electrical power is avail-
able from the near-by moimtains. Small
workshop factories predominate.

Nagoya is a replica of Osaka in location
and products. It lies on a delta at the head
of a shallow bay with a dredged harbor. Its
port ranks fourth, preceded by Kobe,
Yokohama, and Osaka. Silk reeling, cotton
cloth, cotton spinning, and wool Weaving
account for 60 per cent of Nagoya’s output.

202

The Human Response in Japan

There are no metal industries, but cheap
pottery is centered here.

The fourth center lies between Moji and
Nagasaki in northern Kyushu. This is the
base for heavy industry, and the blast
furnaces, rolling mills, shipyards, cement
plants, glass works, and related factories
make this region unique in Japan. Coal is
king. Level land is at a premium so that
there is an irregular succession of industrial
towns along the coast for miles.

Kyushu has had European contacts
longer than any other port in Japan,
chiefly with the Portuguese and Dutch at
Nagasaki, who introduced shipbuilding.
This city was an early coaling port for
European steamers, but most of them now
call at Moji instead. The district is well
situated for the importation of iron ore
from the mainland and accounts for three-
quarters of the pig iron of Japan. Chinese
coal from the Kailan mines is available to
mix with the local product for making coke.
The chief steel center is at Yawata near
Moji, where the government has large
plants.

There are three other areas of pig-iron
production. The oldest is near ore at
Kamaishi in northeastern Honshu, and
others are at Muroran in Hokkaido where
there is coal, and at Yokohama where neither
coal nor ore is present. The steel production
of the Empire together with “ Manchoukuo
in 1940 amounted to 6,455,000 metric tons.
Almost all of the raw materials came from
outside Japan proper, and 55 per cent came
from areas outside Japanese control, in-
cluding scrap iron from the United States.
American steel production is over ten
times that of Japan.

In 1937 northern Kyushu produced
about 2,900,000 metric tons of steel, which
placed her in eleventh place among world
steel districts. Osaka-Kobe and Tokyo-
Yokohama each accounted for 1,000,000
metric tons.

The Japanese steel industry is unique in
that it turns out twice as much open-
hearth steel as blast-furnace pig iron, owing
to the use of scrap and imported pig.

Japan has not been able to solve her
problem of population or to secure a better
economic livelihood through industry. Dur-
ing the decade of the 1930's the standard
of living fell, even from the low point of
the world depression. Real wages declined,
especially among textile and small shop
employees. This was in part a result of
Japan’s shortage in raw materials but was
also related to increasing trade restrictions
in foreign markets. The relation of eco-
nomic distress to war should be clear.

Communications

The compactness of Japan has aided the
development of transportation facilities on
land and by sea. Unfavorable topography
handicaps railway construction, but hun-
dreds of harbors aid coastwise shipping.
Thus heavy freight moves by water, and
railways derive more revenue from pas-
sengers than from freight.

Medieval Japan was linked together by a
series of imperial highways during the
seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nine-
teenth centuries. These connected govern-
ment centers and various shrines and were
used by great numbers of oflficials, mer-
chants, and pilgrims.

Greatest of these highways was the
Tokaido which connected the imperial
capital, then at Kyoto, with the feudal
capital at Tokyo, 300 miles distant. Other
roads from Kyoto led to the western end of
Honshu, one along the northern or shady
side and the other skirting the Inland Sea
along the sunny southern side. Still other
roads led north. Many of these ancient
highways are now paralleled by modern
railroads. The ancient roads still exist but
for the most part are narrow pine-bordered
lanes ill-suited to automobile traffic.

Communications

203

Cross-country automobile roads are little Yokohama and Kobe in half an hour. In
developed. Out of a total of 621,400 miles of these areas electric interurban facilities are
roads in Japan, only one-ninth are outside popular.

Railways have played a large part in the modernization of Japan. To the right are the railway yards near lida-
bashi; to the left is the elevated electrified belt line around Tokyo. {Frederick L. Hamilton, from Three Lions.)

of cities and towns, and most are narrow
and poorly paved. Automobiles and im-
ported gasoline are too expensive for the
common man, but bus lines are very
popular.

The present system of railroads, three-
fourths under government ownership, pro-,
vides a dense rail net reaching all parts of
the islands. The total mileage within Japan
proper is 13,581 (1938). More than a billion
passengers are carried annually, but the
average journey is only 15.4 miles. The
usual gauge is 3 feet 6 inches in contrast to
the American standard of 4 feet 8j^ inches,
so that speeds are reduced. Two per cent
of the lines are electrified, chiefly in the
vicinity of Tokyo and Osaka where frequent
services reach the respective seaports of

Express trains from Tokyo to Aomori at
the northern end of the island require 13
hours for the 457 miles. From Tokyo to
Shimonoseki in the extreme west is a dis-
tance of 682 miles, which requires 16j^
hours by express. Aomori and Shimonoseki
are the termini for railway-operated ferry
services which connect with Hokkaido and
Korea, respectively. The principal line in
Korea starts at Fusan in the south, and
runs through Seoul to Manchuria, while
another important route extends from Seoul
northward to Rashin. A tunnel beneath the
Straits of Shimonoseki links Honshu and
Kyushu.

Water transport has always been impor-
tant in Japanese commerce. Prior to the
opening of the country at the time of

£04

The Human Response in Japan

Parry’s visit in 1853, the policy of non-
intercourse with foreign nations under the
Tokugawa regime prohibited the construc-
tion of ocean vessels, so that navigation was
limited to coastal regions. The first modern
shipyards were built in 1891 and, from this
time on, the construction of steel vessels
has increased rapidly.

Japanese steamers of over 100 tons repre-
sent an aggregate registered tonnage of
5,007,000 tons, of which 1,198,000 tons
were built in 1936-1938. This placed the
country in third rank among maritime
powers, truly a remarkable record for so
short a time. Older vessels have been
systematically scrapped, so that the fleet is
modem and eflficient. Despite Japan’s lack
of petroleum, many of the newer vessels are
oil burning.

Japan has 758 seaports, of which 38 are
open to foreign ships, but only three are of
major international significance: Kobe,
Yokohama, and Osaka. These stand third,
fourth, and eighth in net registered tonnage
entered among the ports of the world. Coal
from Moji to Osaka and Yokohama, and
timber from Karafuto account for three-
quarters of all domestic cargoes; bean cake
from Dairen to Yokohama, sugar, rice,
wheat, raw cotton, salt, and ores follow in
importance.

Two great ocean highways lead out from
Japan. One extends eastward across the
Pacific either along the great-circle route to
Vancouver and Seattle or, as is more com-
mon, stopping at Honolulu en route to
San Francisco and the Panama Canal. The
other leads south along the China coast to
Europe or the East Indies.

Regular passenger and freight services
under the Japanese flag link her ports with
all the world. From Kobe and Yokohama
there are frequent sailings to San Francisco
and Seattle, to the east and west coasts of
South America, to Batavia, to Melbourne,
to Cape Town, and to London. Other lines

provide extensive facilities along the China
coast and up the Yangtze River, while the
coastwise classification is most important
of all. The fastest services from Yokohama
to Seattle require ten days, and about a
month to Europe.

Prior to the Second World War, an exten-
sive network of airlines linked all parts of
the Empire from Karafuto to the Mandated
Islands near the equator. Japanese inter-
national services reached Manchuria, China
south of the Great Wall, and Thailand.

The Japanese Landscape

Few countries have the charm of Japan.
Verdant hillsides, painstaking cultivation,
artistic gardens, and courteous people com-
bine to create a delightful landscape. Wher-
ever the land permits, miniature rice fields
crowd so closely that there is scarcely room
for roads or villages. It is this intricate field
pattern, in varying shades of green or
brown according to the maturity of the
crop, which gives the dominant note to
the landscape. Tea and mulberry climb the
slopes, while forests and clumps of bamboo
partly hide the shrines and temples among
the hills.

If all Japanese landscapes were merged
into a single scene, one might look down
upon a maze of hills and mountains inter-
laced by winding ribbons of alluvium. At
one side would be the inescapable sea,
fringed by rocky cliffs and tiny deltas. Rice
culture leads to agglomerated settlement
with innumerable clusters of farmhouses
surrounded by fruit or mulberry trees.
Many of these villages are elongated along
highways, river levees, or the seacoast.
Larger settlements cluster about feudal
castles or shrines. Automobile highways are
few, but the inevitable hydroelectric trans-
mission lines introduce a modern note to
the rural scene.

Nature has exercised a closely guiding
hand, for the correspondence between the

205

The Japanese Landscape

cultural pattern and the physical surround-
ings is intimate. The Japanese landscape is
still dominantly rural. Large cities are not
numerous, and villages are but slightly
westernized. Agriculture shows a mature
adjustment to land forms, and population
distribution follows food possibilities from
both land and sea. Vertical differences in
climate and soils bring modifications from
place to place but do not greatly disturb
the ensemble within Honshu, Kyushu, and
Shikokii. Hokkaido is new and different,
and the outer dependencies are each unique.

Most of Japan is wooded but, if seen from
the air, the importance of reforested tracts
and erosion-control projects with their
regular spacing of trees is evident. Despite
the pressure for food, surprisingly large
areas of unused land are to be seen. Some
of this is wild bamboo grass or brushland
on mountain slopes, fit neither for grazing
nor for tree crops. Elsewhere this idle land
represents diluvial terraces with excessively
coarse soils where cultivation is impractical.
Other areas of sandy flood plains or coastal
swamps are unfit for agriculture. The
government is well aware of the problem,
and the failure to" find a use for these
areas suggests that they are economicaUy
submarginal.

Field patterns are best seen at the time
of rice transplanting when the tiny flooded
fields stand out like broken mirrors. There
are no fences, and only low dikes separate
each plot. Where the slope is gentle,
rectilinear patterns prevail ; on hillsides the
dike system follows the contours. Unless
irrigation water is easily available, rice
fields seldom rise much above the valley
floor. Above the irrigated fields may be
sloping terraces for tea or mulberry or fruit.
Almost everywhere the micropattern of sur-
face configuration determines the land use.
In the new agricultural districts of Hok-
kaido the farms average 11.25 acres and
were laid out along American lines, but in

Old Japan farms of about 2.52 acres are the
rule. This acreage is split up by scattered
holdings.

The exteriors of Japanese houses tend to
be drab and monotonous to western eyes,
except for the lattice windows. Walls are
of unpainted thin wooden siding, or mud
and straw plaster on a wattle foundation.
Roofs in the country are characteristically
covered with thatch, or with tile in the
cities where the fire hazard is greater. One-
and two-story structures are the rule. There
are no stoves for heating, although on the
colder west coast, houses are built with
the Korean device of allowing smoke from
the kitchen fire to circulate through a brick
baffle which extends under the earthen
floors of several rooms. Elsewhere a char-
coal brazier supplies enough heat to warm
one’s hands before writing or doing fine
work.

The charm of Japanese houses lies not in
the exterior, but in the enclosed courtyards
with their formal gardens. Even the better
village residences are often entered through
a low gateway crowded between shops along
the street. Only temples and inns have
attractive exteriors. Sliding lattice parti-
tions with translucent paper in place of
glass are artistic and well adapted to the
subtropical climate, but they are ill suited
to the cold and snowy winters of the north.

Japan has 107 cities with over 25,000
people, but only 6 exceed 500,000. Unlike
towns of the West, these show but limited
functional zoning. One- and two-story
houses produce a flat urban profile, inter-
rupted perhaps by the feudal castle or
shrine that served as the original nucleus.
Both village and metropolitan streets are
surprisingly similar in structures, types of
business, and general character. Shops open
directly on the narrow street, without doors
or windows, and are boarded up at night.
Many business places have the residence of
the owner in the rear or upstairs.

206

The Human Response in Japan

In parts of Tokyo the westernization is businessman wears western clothing, and
striking. Modern subways, hundreds of the few schoolboys who think they speak
neon lights, excellent department stores, English have never heard it spoken by a

The urban core of Tokyo, rebuilt since the earthquake of 1923, contains many splendid buildings such as
this office of the First Life Insurance Company seen across the inner moat of the Tokyo Castle. {Germaine Keller-

man^ courtety Japan Reference Library.)

and three-quarters of the men in European
dress give a cosmopolitan air. Tokyo is in
tune with cities the world over; it is the
most modem city in all Asia. An American
will have little difficulty in finding someone
along the downtown streets who speaks or
at least reads English. The central parts
of Osaka, Kobe, and Yokohama are some-
what similar.

Provincial cities are entirely different.
There may be a few semimodem buildings
and other new externals, but life is still
thoroughly Japanese. Only an occasional

foreigner. Whereas an occasional Japanese
woman in Tokyo may be seen in western
dress, the kimono is worn universally in
smaller places. Sidewalk shops are lighted
with a few unshaded electric bulbs, and
display thermos bottles, enameled ware,
and umbrellas, but the customers still wear
wooden clog shoes.

Contrasts and contradictions mark the
rapid transition from centuries of seclusion
to world awareness. No nation has ever so
transformed its national life as has Japan

The Japanese Landscape

807

since 1868 when the Emperor Meiji as-
cended the throne. Many of these adjust-
ments are psychological and social, but the
material evidences are widespread. Rural
landscapes have changed less than the
urban, but everywhere there are signs of
the new. Nevertheless, Japan is not becom-

ing westernized; rather she is skillfully
remolding her own life to be in tune with
the world. Acceptance of some western
techniques is not mere copying; instead
the Japanese are grafting some branches of
material civilization onto the parent stock
of their indigenous culture.

♦ Chapter 12

REGIONS OF OLD JAPAN

Within the Japanese Empire are wide Six regions make up Old Japan: the
variations in environment and life. This Kwanto Plain, Central Honshu, Western

The geographic regions and land forms of Japan.'Two geographic provinces and 10 regions are shown above.
Old Japan includes Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Outer Japan embraces Hokkaido, Karafuto, the Kuriles or
Chishima, Korea or Chosen divided into a northern and southern half, Formosa or Taiwan, and the South Seas.
{Base map by Erwin RaisZt courtesy Harvard-Yenching Institute,)

chapter deals with regional characteristics Honshu and the Inland Sea, Shikoku,

in the main islands of Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Northern Honshu.

and Kyushu which form the traditional

home of Japanese culture. Although Hok- Plain

kaido is administratively a part of Japan On almost any kind of map of Japan, the
proper, its geography is so different that it Kwanto Plain around Tokyo is con-

is considered with the other portions of spicuous. Whether because of its geology,

Outer Japan in the next chapter. surface forms, land use, or population

208

Kwanto Plain

209

concentration, this is an outstanding region. Portions o! the region near the seacoast

Nowhere else is there so much approxi- to the east are occupied by coastal swamps

The Kwanto Plain is the largest area of level land in Japan; part is an alluvial lowland, part of it is covered
with diluvial terraces. Plains are shown by horizontal ruled lines, hills by diagonal lines, and mountains by
vertical ruling.

mately flat land, yet even here the surface and unfilled lakes. In this section a few
is far from level. Most of the region is a hard rock hills rise above the general level,
compound alluvial fan built by the many In many respects the Kwanto Plain is
rivers that pour out of the central Honshu representative of Old Japan. Midway be-
mountains. Uplift has rejuvenated the tween north and south, the climate is a fair
streams which now have flood plains sample of humid subtropical conditions in
graded to a lower base level. Thus, dis- the main islands. Rainfall amounts to 63
sected diluvial terraces alternate with inches in Tokyo with a maximum in
alluvial lowlands. Elsewhere is uplifted September that is over eight times the
coastal plain. Many of the rivers flow December minimum. Snow falls during
between dikes; when these are overtopped two or three weeks of the mild winter but
by flood waters, wide areas of farm land does not remain long on the ground. As the
are inundated. Sand, coarse sediments, and growing season lasts 220 days, multiple
volcanic ash predominate. cropping is feasible during the hot summers.

210

Regions of Old Japan

Within an area of 5,000 square miles grown in the Kwanto. Rice fields generally
lives a population of over 12,000,000, half liefallowduringthe winter or are planted to
of them in Tokyo. This is the largest unit of a crop of green manure. Near many of the

The Kwanto Plain in the suburbs of Tokyo is intensively utilized for rice culture, with numerous canals for
irrigation. Many of the villages are strung along the streams and canals.

compact settlement and contains one- farmhouses are clumps of mulberry. Tea,
sixth the population of Japan proper. The dry grains, and tobacco are also raised.
Kwanto Plain is the most modernized of all Upland agriculture on the flat-topped
regions, and its great port, Yokohama, is diluvial terraces is less continuous than on
the principal front door to the United the lowlands. Irrigated rice is uncommon;
States. instead there are fields of vegetables, beans.

Arable land within the Kwanto district peas, sweet potatoes, millet, or buckwheat,
amounts to 2,356,200 acres. This means Extensive areas are planted to mulberry
that about two-thirds of the area is actually trees, which are trimmed back near the
under cultivation. ground, so that the leaves may be more

Irrigated rice dominates the low alluvial- easily gathered. A quarter of all Japan’s
filled valleys and coasta,! plains and oc- silk is produced on the Kwanto Plain, with
cupies 42 per cent of all arable land, even larger amounts in the near-by moun-
One-seventh of the rice in Japan proper is tains. In some upland districts from 30 to 50

Kwanto Plain

per cent of the cultivated land is in mul-
berry. In addition, these uplands are the
center of Japan’s limited production of
tobacco. Tea is widely raised. Where fall
crops are to be planted, wheat and barley
are sown.

Terrace margins facing the lowlands are
steep and usually in forest. Large areas of
flattish diluvium are still in wild grass or
woods. This is the northern limit of broad-
leaved evergreen hardwoods.

Population densities are high on the
lowlands, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000
people per square mile. On the uplands the
crowding is half to a quarter of these fig-
ures. Tiny villages are always in sight and,
within the plain, there are 80 cities and
towns with populations over 10,000.

The great metropolitan center is the twin
city of Tokyo and Yokohama. Although

separate politically, they function as one.
From center to center is but 18 miles, and
the intervening area is almost solidly built

J F M A M J J A S 0 N D

Tokyo

Elevation, 69 feet; average temperature, 5G.8®F.;
total precipitation 57.9 inches.

up with residential and industrial suburbs.
This urban area serves not only the Kwanto

A village street near Tokyo. {Frederick L. Hamilton, from Three Lions.)

212

Regions of Old Japan

Plain but all of northern Honshu, and in a registered tonnage of all vessels enter-
real sense the Empire as well. ing Tokyo rose from 300,000 in 1922 to

The southern shore of Honshu is charac- 7,865,000 in 1937. This compares with

The entrance gate to the Asakusa Temple in Tokyo. {De (Jou^ from Ewing Galloway.)

terized by a series of long bays, usually of
tectonic origin and now in the process of
being filled by delta growth. The eastern-
most of these is the Sagami-Tokyo embay-
ment, locus of the great 1923 earthquake.
The otiy of Tokyo lies at the head
of the- bay on the compound delta of the
small streams that drain the Kwanto Plain.
The bay is too shallow for ocean vessels so
that Yokohama, halfway to the open sea,
has become the port of eall. Tokyo is not
yet open to foreign vessels without per-
mission, but dredging operations have made
a harbor for vessels up to 6,000 tons. The

26,785,000 net tons entered at Yokohama
during 1935.

Despite the early handicaps of Tokyo as
a shallow-water port, the volume of its
barge and lighter freight is now equal to the
entire tonnage entering Tokyo by rail.
Most of this represents transshipments
from Yokohama.

But Tokyo does not owe its greatness
to t^e sea only. It has been important since
the sixteenth century, when it became the
capital of the Tokugawa Shoguns and their
feudal Daimos. After the Emperor Meiji
was restored in 1868 the imperial capital

The Imperial Palace lies within this ancient enclosure with its castle walls and towers, built in a day of bows and
arrows. {Germaine Kellerman^ courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

Empire. Here are the head offices of the earthquake of Sept. 1, 1923, when half
great industrial houses of Mitsui and the city was destroyed, wide avenues have
Mitsubishi, the center of government, replaced many narrow streets or have cut
the leading universities, and the greatest through traffic barriers. The area devoted
wealth. to streets has thus risen from 12 to 25 per

The eastern part of the city lies on a low cent. Heconstruction was officially corn-
river flood plain with canals that serve pleted in 1930, , and downtown Tokyo is
commerce and industry. The western and marked by splendid department stores,
residential section is on a dissected terrace, banks, and office buildings. These are of
On a spur of this upland is the old Shogun concrete and steel, designed to be earth-
castle, now the imperial palace. From it quake resistant; few are over eight stories in
streets radiate in a cobweb pattern, cut by height as they are limited by law to 100 feet,
two concentric moats now largely filled Industry in the Tokyo-Yokohama area
in to make roads. Subsidiary castles of is diversified, with small workshops more

214

Regions of Old Japan

important than large factories. Textiles, 777,500. In 1940 the ports of Tokyo and
machinery, electrical goods, food, chemi- Yokohama were officially united under the
cals, novelties, rubber, glass, paper, and name of Keihin.

The outer moat of Tokyo ("astle passes near the present Ginza shopping district. The buildings to the left are
part of Tokyo’s newspaper row. {Germaine Kellerman, courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

printing are each important. Shipbuilding
and ship repair are significant along the
waterfront. The only local raw material is
silk, and most of the filatures for reeling
silk are in villages outside the city. Coal,
iron, raw cotton, and other supplies are
all imported. Electric power is abundant.

In 1932, Tokyo covered 31 square miles
and had ^ population of 2,070,000. By the
annexation of surrounding cities and some
purely rural land, the area rose to 223
square miles with a population of 6,778,804
in 1940. There are five miles of subway
lines.

Yokohama is a newer city than Tokyo,
and its growth is largely the product of
industry and foreign commerce. Splendid
wharves accommodate the largest vessels
in the Pacific. The population in 1938 was

Industrial operations in the Kwanto
Plain are largely for domestic consumption,
except for silk as the chief export. Since
the earthquake, Yokohama has yielded first
place as a port to Kobe.

Excellent rail services lead out from
Tokyo and make it the chief railway center
of the nation. There are several hundred
miles of railway within the Kwanto itself.

Central Honshu^

The central portion of Honshu is the
most mountainous region of all Japan.
Numerous peaks approximate 10,000 feet,
and level land is restricted to isolated basins

1 Central Honshu and the Kwanto Plain are col-
lectively the equivalent of the Chubu Region as de-
fined by Trewartha, and the Kwanto, Tosan, Tokai,
and southern Hokuroku regions as described by Hall.

Central Honshu

215

or coastal margins. Giant volcanoes and
fault scarps give parts of the area a rugged
and inhospitable topography. These moun-
tains are often known as the Japanese Alps.
Unfavorable land forms create a blank on
the population map. On the other hand,
wherever level land is present, so is man.

The central mountain knot has always
been a barrier to travel along the Tokaido
from Kyoto to Tokyo. South of Fujiyama
there was once a gateway, and this gave
rise to the names Kwanto, meaning east of
the barrier, and Kwansai, the region around
Kyoto and Osaka, to the west of the gate.

Lowland climates are not very different
from the Kwanto Plain, but sharp differ-
ences in altitude and exposure introduce
pronounced climatic variations. On the
shady Japan Sea side, rainfall amounts to
80 and 100 inches with a winter maximum.
Winters are cool and long, with cloudy
weather and considerable snow in the
mountains. Along the sunny Pacific side,
the 60 to 80 inches of rain occur largely in
the summer, partly associated with ty-
phoons and Bai-u rains. Interior basins
with 40 to 50 inches are among the driest
parts of Japan proper. Frosts are an agri-
cultural hazard at higher elevations.

Some portions of the area are progressive
and prosperous; others more isolated are
poor and backward. This is especially true
on the west coast which is Japan’s back
door, where there are few large cities or
ports, little industry, and landless farmers
who are a holdover from feudal times.
These conditions have given rise to emigra-
tion to Hokkaido and to Brazil.

The outstanding geologic feature is a
lowland that cuts across the island from
north to south. This great graben, known
as the Fossa Magna, is bordered by tower-
ing ramparts, especially on the west. Along
the fault lines numerous volcanoes have
built huge cones of lava and cinders, in
some places entirely filling the transverse

lowland. Minor faulting has produced local
basins, now deeply filled with steep-sloping
alluvial fans and diluvium, often terraced.

Tokyo’s theater for the classical drama is appro-
priately designed in modified Japanese architecture.
{Germaine Kellerman^ courtesy Japan Reference
Library.)

The greatest of the volcanoes is Fuji-
yama, variously written as Fuji or Fujisan,
now romanized as Huzizan. Its symmetrical
cone is 12,461 feet high and has a slope up
to 37°, the angle of rest for loose cinders.
The last eruption was in 1707. Fuji is sur-
rounded by a series of five lovely lakes, in
which artists delight to mirror the moun-
tain. Over fifty thousand pilgrims a year
climb to the summit.

Northwestern and southeastern shores
both have discontinuous narrow strips of
arable land along steep alluvial fans or
terraces.

Rice is the dominant crop almost every-
where but is handicapped in the mountains
by coarse soil, limited rainfall, and cooler
summers. Along the north coast there is a

216

Regions of Old J apan •

surplus for shipment to other parts of grapes are taking their place. Nearly one-
Japan. Where double cropping is possible, third the silk of Japan is produced in the
wheat or barley follow rice. region of Central Honshu.

The symmetrical cone of f'ujiyaroa, seen through cherry blossoms, graces the background of many Japanese
villages. (Germaine Kellerman^ courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

Several specialized crops are important. Central Honshu also supplies half the
Chief of these is the growing of mulberry crop of green tea, chiefly in the hinterland
leaves in interior basins where rice does not of Shizuoka from where it is exported to
do well.* Cheap land and cheap labor favor the United States, the Soviet Union, and
mulberry. The trees are tolerant of poor Canada. This is the northern limit of Man-
soil and do not require irrigation. The darin oranges which are raised extensively
Suwa Basin is the most important seri- along the south coast. More daikon pickle
cultural center in the world, with 40 to 60 is grown around Nagoya than elsewhere,
per cent of all cultivated land in mulberry. Landscapes usually show a dominance
When the silk market in the United States of rice on the irrigated valley floors, sur-
expanded, mulberry cultivation in the Suwa rounded by variable amounts of mulberry,
area climbed higher and higher up the both on lowlands and rising up the slopes,
slopes; with the decline in silk export, mul- and tea on terraced hillsides. Villages tend
berry gardens are receding, and apples or to lie next to the hills, often at the mouths

Central Honshu

217

of valleys. Unused hillsides are clothed of Nikko, just north of the Kwanto Plain,
with forest. Beautiful pagodas and shrines, surrounded

Small mines in the mountains produce by giant cryptomeria trees, provide the

Tea on the hillsides and rice in the lowlands, near Shizuoka. {Germaine Kellermany courtesy Japan Reference

Library.)

copper, lead, zinc, and silver. Fishing is background for Japanese culture at its
significant along both coasts. best.

A few places deserve mention. On the The one great metropolis is Nagoya, at
north coast is the city of Kanazawa with a the head of Ise Bay and on the Nobi Plain,
population of 157,300. This is the largest second largest in Japan proper. The Nobi
city on this side of Honshu, but the chief Plain, with a population of 2,750,000, is
port is Fushiki, 25 miles to the north, comparable to the Kwanto Plain, except
Within the mountains at an elevation of that on the flat alluvium the population is
3,180 feet is the well-known summer resort even denser, from 1,500 to 3,000 per square
of Karuizawa. mile, and on the much-dissected diluvium

Many places in Japan compete for the somewhat more sparse,
greatest charm, but probably no interior The city of Nagoya lies on a low terrace
spot is more lovely than the temple city four miles from the head of the shallow

218

Regions of Old Japan

bay, but its port of Yokkaichi is much the Inland Sea. Here is the richest culture
inferior to Tokyo’s Yokohama or Osaka’s and the most perfected land use. Before
Kobe. Port improvements at Nagoya make modem industry invaded the area, agri-

A mountaio valley near Tokyo with its diked streams and patchwork of rice 6elds and farmhouses. {Germaine
KeUermany courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

it possible for 10,000-ton vessels to enter,
and the city ranks a poor fourth among
Japan’s ports. The population rose to
1,224,000 in 1937, so that Nagoya is the
third largest center of the Empire. Imports
include wool from Australia, raw cotton
from British India, lumber from the United
States, and soybeans and cake from Man-
churia. Exports are cotton cloth and cheap
china ware, as well as industrial goods to
other parts of Japan. Nagoya is one of the
modern industrial centers.

Western Honshu and the Inland Sea

No part of Japan has the same maturity
and intensity of occupance as the shores of

culture had reached a climax adjustment
with complete utilization of all available
fields. This is the heart of Old Japan.
Ancient cultural forms reflect the long
history. Population crowds the land even
more than in the regions already considered.
Western Honshu is a region of great in-
dustrial importance.

The Inland Sea is Japan’s Mediterranean.
Through it moves both internal and ex-
ternal commerce. Sheltered waters and
countless harbors make it a fishing region
of significance. Thousands of vessels, with
sail or engine, transport cargo from one
port to another. Through the Inland Sea
pass all trans-Pacific steamers, as well

Western Honshu and the Inland Sea

219

as those bound from Yokohama for Europe precipitation of 40 inches or less in the
or the South Seas. It is possible that as plains must be amplified by an elaborate
many vessels use the Inland Sea as the system of wells, ponds, and irrigation

This farm building near Nara houses a silk cocoon plant for a fanner who raises his own mulberry leaves and silk-
worms and operates his own filature. {R. Moulin^ from Ewing Galloway.)

English Channel. Clear blue skies, mirror- canals. On the shady north coast there is a
like water, and countless islands with winter maximum with some snow. For-
forests or rice terraces make this one of the tunately the mountains have twice and
most picturesque spots in the world, three times the lowland rainfall, but the

Although western Honshu lies in the runoff is seasonal and of limited value for
latitudes of Italy and Greece and has com- irrigation or hydroelectric power,
parable temperatures, there is twice the The frost-free period averages 220 days
rainfall and no dry summer as in the Euro- near the Inland Sea and somewhat less
pean Mediterranean. Monsoon winds bring along the Japan Sea. Temperature con-
a summer rainfall maximum to the sunny trasts within the region are not pronounced,
south coast, but the bordering mountains for elevations seldom exceed half a mile,
keep back some of the moisture so that the Summers are uncomfortably hot, with high

8*0

Regions of Old Japan

hiimidities till September. Winters are mild coastal plain alluvium, diluvial terraces
and snow is rare. Winter cropping is com- only partly dissected, and older and higher
mon, except on the north shore. The high diluvial terraces often made of very coarse

The Kinki district of western Honshu includes the great cities of Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto at the eastern
end of the Inland Sea. Farther east lies Nagoya. The narrow width of Honshu is illustrated by the presence of
both the Pacific and the Japan Sea. •

productivity of the land does not mean
greater farm income, but rather smaller
farms, with the average under two acres.

Unlike the mountains of Central Honshu,
the western part of Honshu is merely hilly.
There are large areas of granite, eroded into
rounded hills. Interior basins are not num-
erous, A complicated system of block
faulting furnishes the pattern for streams,
and the Inland Sea itself is a series of
dropped blocks, the islands being remnants
of a dissected peneplain. Wherever approxi-
mately level land occurs, there is the usual
association of flattish swampy delta or

material and much eroded. Artificial ter-
racing is more abundant than elsewhere,
with steps to the top of the hills in some
locations. The largest areas of level land
are in the vicinity of Osaka and Kyoto.

Rice is everywhere the principal crop,
with the highest yields in the nation, 45
bushels per acre. Mulberry and tea are
widespread on the slopes. On account of the
prevalence of winter cropping, this is the
most significant area for wheat and barley.
Rye, rapeseed, and legumes are of some im-
portance. Citrus fruits and apples are
common. Near the cities are large areas

Western Honshu and the Inland Sea

221

of vegetables, fruit, and flowers. Local tion of salt from sea water. The final evap-

specialization has made some localities oration is over coal fires.

famous for watermelons, peaches, and Within the region is Japan’s greatest

A temple at Kyoto with its giant cryptomeria trees.

strawberries. The tea grown near Uji, south industrial area, that around Osaka and
of Kyoto, is especially well known. Along Kobe. Textiles, metal industries, and ship-
the south shore of Honshu are raised the building are outstanding. Natural resources
reeds that are woven into the tatami mats are lacking, but plentiful labor and favor-
that invariably cover the floors of Japanese able location stimulate industry. In western
homes. Honshu too are the old crafts and arts

Many farmers supplement their income for which Japan is famous. Communica-
from crops by fish culture in the ponds tions by* water and rail are excellent
and moats that surround the villages, throughout the region, although the north
A large number of those who live near coast is much less favored,
the northern or southern shore are part- Western Honshu and the Inland Sea
time fishermen. The abundant sunshine include three subregions: the Kinki dis-
and high temperatures along the Inland trict in the east around the great cities of
Sea make it a favored coast for the extrac- Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto; the sunny south

222

Regions of Old Japan

side of Honshu with the offshore islands;
and the shady Japan Sea side. Whereas all
share most of the characteristics just de-

Osaka

Average temperature 59°F.; total precipitation,
55.4 inches.

scribed, each has its personality. In fact,
one never stops subdividing Japan, for
successive generalizations each have their
exceptions when applied to smaller and
smaller areas.

Xinki takes first place in history and
culture. Kyoto was the imperial capital
for eleven centuries. Near-by Nara with its
temples and natural beauties is visited by
three million tourists a year. Osaka is
Japan’s second city and was on a par with
Tokyo in population before the latter
enlarged its boundaries.

The Kinki district includes five fault
basins, separated by unimportant moun-
tain barriers. Each is in part swampy, and
some have unfilled lakes. To the northeast
is Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, sur-
rounded by only a limited area of level
land. West of it is Kyoto Basin,* south of
which is the Nara or Yamato Basin. Only
two of these lowlands reach the sea: the
delta around Osaka and the unimportant
Kino graben to the south.

Rice fields are often too low and poorly
drained to be planted to a winter crop, but

nearly three-fourths of the upland fields
raise a second crop, and a few even a third.
Intertillage is common, and one may find
combinations such as alternating rows of
mulberry, persimmon, and tea. A thousand
years of population pressure have pushed
cultivation to its limits.

The rivers of the Kinki subregion are
diked to , protect adjoining fields and, as
a result, deposition is confined to the
channel so that diker must be raised re-
peatedly. Near Lake Biwa this process has
gone so far that the beds of some streams
are 20 feet above the surrounding plain.
In a few places, railroads and highways
are carried under the river by tunnels
rather than over them by bridges. When
the dikes break, disaster follows.

Many rural areas are laid out according
to a rectangular pattern known as the Han
den brought from China during 645-655
A.D. Roads and canals conform to this
scheme, which is restricted to the Kinki
area.

For centuries, Kyoto was the imperial
capital and thus the center of arts and
crafts. The city is still the home of crafts-
men who produce lacquer, porcelain, cloi-
sonne, bronze, and silk textiles. There
is almost no modern-style industry, but
weaving and dyeing are important occupa-
tions. Kyoto has its own personality of
dignity and charm, without the noisy and
dirty modernity of the other large cities.
The city is laid out with wide streets in a
rectangular pattern around the old palaces
and temples, in the style of Peiping. The
population in 1938 was 1,159,800, fourth
among Japanese cities.

Osaka is Japan’s premier industrial
center, with cotton yarn and cloth as the
dominant production. Osaka’s unlovely
factories and narrow residential streets
are the opposite of lovely Kyoto. A quarter
of the nation’s factory workers are here,
and they produce a third of the manu-

Western Honshu and the Inland Sea 2^3

factured goods. In 1936 industrial produc- trade, Osaka was already the most impor-
tion reached a billion and a half yen. The tant domestic trading center, owing to its
city lies at the head of a shallow bay, with nearness to Kyoto.

The main-line railway from Osaka to Shimonoseki, with the characteristic landscape of western Honshu.

(Frederick L. Hamilton, from Three Lions.)

adequate room for expansion. Numerous
canals and rivers simplify barge transpor-
tation but require 1,600 bridges within
the city.

Within recent years, the harbor has been
dredged so that 20,000-ton ocean vessels
may be accommodated. The absence of port
facilities in the early years led to the
development of Kobe, 16 miles to the west.
Kobe still serves as Osaka’s chief entrep6t
for overseas trade, but the foreign shipping
of Osaka itself now ranks third, next to
Kobe and Yokohama. If domestic and
overseas commerce are combined, Osaka
is first. When Japan was opened to foreign

The Osaka area produces a wide variety
of goods. Only cotton is manufactured in
large factories and, out of the 30,000 manu-
facturing establishments in 1932, only
5,676 employed over five workers. Although
there are no blast furnaces, the fabrication
of steel is important. Smoke, slums, and
smells are characteristic. The 1938 popula-
tion amounted to 3,321,200.

Kobe lies on an alluvial fan at the base of
mountains that restrict its inland growth
and cause it to expand along the shore
toward Osaka. Since Kobe is the chief port
of call for foreign shipping, it is but natural
that it should have many western in-

224

Regions of Old Japan

fluences. The harbor has facilities for the
largest ocean vessels in the Pacific, and
there is a heavy movement of freight. Kobe
is doubly fortunate in its maritime position.
All ships from Canada, the United States,
or the Panama Canal include Kobe en
route to Asia. Likewise all ships from
Europe to the Far East, together with
those from Australia and the East Indies,
invariably proceed to Kobe. Japan thus
lies on two of the major ocean high-
ways. The 27,000 vessels with a total of
28,334,000 registered tons that enter Kobe
annually place it next to New York and
London in world ports. If Osaka is included,
the district ranks second. The population
of Kobe was 989,100 in 1938; of these 8,900
were foreigners, the largest number in any
city.

The Japanese have always differentiated
between the shady Japan Sea and the
sunny Pacific sides of their islands. The
northwest shore of Honshu is known as
the San-in, since it is darker, stormier, and
snowier. In contrast, the southeast margin
is the San-yo, bright and sunny. The
San-in coast receives the winter continental
monsoon from across the Japan Sea, with
resulting snow. The San-yo coast is under
the influence of the summer oceanic mon-
soon. Salt may be evaporated and citrus
fruits grown on the south, but not on the
north.

In western Honshu, neither shore has
much arable land, although the margins
of the Inland Sea are more hospitable. The
northern coast is less indented and has
fewer harbors. Despite the lack of shelter,
or perhaps owing to the scarcity of farm
land, fishing is important along the Japan
Sea. Korean influences are noticeable in
this San-in area.

The western entrance to the Inland Sea
is guarded by the twin cities of Shimono-
seki, population 132,737 in 1935, and Moji,
on either sides of the mile-wide straits. In

1940, these two ports were combined under
the name of Kammon. Shipping prefers
Moji on account of its coal and steel, but
Shimonoseki became important as it was
the rail terminus for the larger island. A
railway tunnel now links Moji and Shim-
onoseki. Many cities lie along the San-yo
between Shimonoseki and Kobe, chief of
which are Hiroshima, population 310,118
in 1935, and Okayama, population 166,144
in 1935.

Shikoku

The island of Shikoku is the smallest
of the main Japanese group, and the least
important. The topography is maturely
dissected, with high mountains and steep
slopes which strictly limit agriculture and
handicap communications. A major geo-
logic boundary runs east and west through
the island, marked by the great fault scarp
which separates the Inner and Outer Zones
of Japan. To the south is a series of parallel
ridges and valleys underlain by ancient
folded rocks; to the north is granite eroded
into hills similar to the topography acrosi^
the Inland Sea.

Both geologically and geographically,
southern Shikoku is similar to southern
Kyushu and to the Kii peninsula south of
Osaka.

In the north, agricultural conditions
closely correspond with those in Honshu,
just described. On the south shore a more
nearly tropical climate with 300 days free
from frost permits palms, camphor, and
wax trees, and two successive crops of rice.
The summer monsoon brings heavy rain-
fall to the mountains of Shikoku, so that
precipitation on the south slopes exceeds
75 inches. In the lee of the mountains near
the Inland Sea the rainfall is but half. In
addition to rice, there are the usual dry
crops of rye, barley, buckwheat, sweet
potatoes, and mulberry.

Kyushu

Lumbering and fishing are important
occupations, and the island is Japan’s
most specialized paper area. In the moun-
tains near the Inland Sea is a large copper
mine at Besshi. Shikoku has no volcanoes.

There are few cities, little industry,
limited railroad service, and considerable
area with but sparse population.

Kyushu

Although Kyushu lies at a corner of Old
Japan, it has an important history and is
one of the ancient centers of Japanese life.
The island is closest to China and has long
had contacts with the South Seas through
the steppingstones of the Ryukyu Islands.
The highly indented coast line is an aid to
fishing activities, so that people from
Kyushu are accustomed to life on the sea.
The old Satsuma culture was based on
these overseas contacts. Customs and dia-
lects still differ from Honshu. Modern cities
are few, and interests are still peripheral.

More than elsewhere, volcanic landscapes
are dominant with several active craters,
but even in Kyushu less than half the
island is occupied by lava flows or ash
deposits. There are two separate areas of
vulcanism, one around Mt. Aso in the
center, the other the volcano of Sakurajima
in the south. Even in this peripheral island,
population pressure is so great that rice
terraces and dry fields have been pushed
far up the slopes, and 70,000 people live
within the supercrater or caldera of
temporarily quiescent Mt. Aso. The island
is divided into two equal parts by the same
structural boundary that cuts Shikoku.

This is the warmest part of subtropical
Japan. Summer temperatures are higher
and much more oppressive because of the
humidity. There is no protection against
the winter monsoon, but in these latitudes
it brings no snow or low temperatures.
Agriculture is intensive but not unusual.
Double cropping is common, with rice

225

often planted as the second crop in mid-
July, following dry grains. Sweet potato is
widely grown as it is a dependable crop and

JFMAMJJASOND

Kagoshima (southwestern Kyushu)
Elevation, 394 feet; average temperature, 61.5®F.;
total precipitation 84.7 inches.

the poor man’s food. Originally raised in
China, it moved from there to the Ryukyu
Islands and thence to southern Kyushu
and eventually to the rest of Japan. Each
successive area refers to it by a name that
indicates its importation from the adjoin-
ing region. Much of the island is forested, so
that lumber and paper mills are important.

Southern Kyushu is more distinctly
tropical than the north with rural houses
covered by simple thatched roofs, dense
vegetation, and abundant bamboo, bananas,
and oranges. Tobacco and pweet pota-
toes along with sugar cane, beans, taro, and
vegetables supplement rice culture, which
covers but a third of the arable land. This
is the lowest fraction in Old Japan and
both yields and quality are poor. Kyushu
has small specialized horse-breeding areas
utilizing the wild grasses of the uplands.

The city of Nagasaki, north of the divid-
ing escarpment, has been a significant port
for foreign trade for several centuries, and
for a long time was the only gateway for
occidental culture. Dutch and Portuguese
traders have made Nagasaki conscious of
the outside world since the middle of the

Vn:

sixteenth century. The city is closest of all lurgical coke. There are several dozen large
Japanese ports to China, and express mines, but op)erations are complicated by
steamers leave several times a week for faulting. The region supplies the Japanese

The Mikki coal mine in northwestern Kyushu is the largest in Japan. Fifteen tons of water must be pumped from
the workings for each ton of coal that is mined. {Ewing Galloway.)

Shanghai, 500 miles distant. Nagasaki’s
modem foreign contacts were aided by the
presence of near-by coal suitable for steam-
ship use and, prior to the substitution of
fuel oil, it was customary for many steamers
from Europe or North America to take on
supplies here. Nagasaki has lost much of
its commercial importance and ranks but
eighth among Japanese ports. It is still
the second largest shipbuilding center. The
population in 1938 was 211,702.

About half of the nation’s coal is mined
in the Chikuho basin in the extreme north-
ern part of the island. This coal, of Tertiary
age, is subbituminous and must be mixed
with imported coal in order to make metal-

market as far north as Nagoya, beyond
which supplies come from Hokkaido and
the Joban district near Sendai.

Coal from Chikuho and adjacent fields
has given rise to a great concentration of
heavy industry on the southern side of the
Straits of Shimonoseki. In a belt some 20
miles long and usually less than a mile
wide from Moji west to Yawata, there is a
continuous succession of coal docks, ore
piles, blast furnaces and steel mills, cement
works, flour mills, sugar refineries, paper
mills, oil refineries, glass works, machine
shops, and unattractive factory towns. The
industrial area has an aggregate population
of over half a million. The government-

Northern Honshu

227

owned Yawata plant and its subsidiaries
produce three-fourths of Japan’s pig iron
and one-half of the steel.

Level land is limited, so that many of
the factories are directly on tide water.
The area is well situated midway between
supplies of coking coal and ore from the
continent or the South Seas, and the domes-
tic markets for its products. The straits
are a converging point for all Far Eastern
traffic, but neither Moji nor Shimonoseki
is an important port for passengers. Rail
facilities are well developed.

Kyushu exhibits wide contrasts. Heavy
industry dominates a small comer of the
landscape, but isolation affords the key to
most rural areas, especially south of the
dividing escarpment. Southern Kyushu has
important gold and copper mines.

only locally important. Winters are longer
and cooler, and many localities have snow
on the ground for four months. The original

12 "

80 ®

JFMAMJJASOND

Akita (west coast of northern Honshu)
Elevation, 20 feet; average temperature, 50.5®F.;
total precipitation, 71.4 inches.

Northern Honshu^

Despite the essential unity of the Japa-
nese islands, it is at once evident that there
is marked variation from place to place.
Few countries, certainly none in Asia, have
so much detail in land pattern or land use
within so small an area. In his “Recon-
naissance Geography of Japan,” Trewartha
recognizes over 100 distinct subdivisions,
of which 27 are in Northern Honshu. The
generalizations necessary in the present
study cannot do justice to this diversity.

This is the largest of all regions in Old
Japan, the most recently developed, and
the least densely populated. Parts of the
area have been cultivated but a century,
and expansion is still under way. Sub-
tropical conditions merge into a temperate
climate, and the growing season ranges
from 160 to a maximum of 200 days, ac-
cording to latitude and altitude. Tea, sweet
potatoes, and bamboo drop out, double
cropping is uncommon, and mulberry is

^ Northern Honshu corresponds to the region of Ou
as described by Trewartha, and Ou plus northern
Hokuroku as defined by Hall.

forest consisted of maple, birch, chestnut,
poplar, and oak. These climatic and vege-
tation conditions have given rise to brown
forest soils.

Three north-south mountain ranges with
intervening lowlands give a parallel ar-
rangement to the topography, which is
reflected in maps of cultivated land and
population distribution. Each of these
zones has its interruptions, so that the
feasible sites for settlements are isolated.
The central range is the highest and is
crowned by a number of volcanoes, several
of which reach a mile; elsewhere elevations
are but half that figure. Structurally, the
eastern range is the dividing line between
Inner and Outer Japan. There are a few
coastal plains, especially in the west, and
several of the interior lowlands reach the
sea through breaks in the mountains, else-
where level land is absent along the shore.

Along the Pacific side flows a cool cur-
rent, and as the summer monsoon blows
over it, condensation produces considerable
fog. As a result, summers along the east
coast are cooler and drier than on the west.

228

Regions of Old Japan

The Japan Sea side has a slight winter
precipitation maximum due to the very
heavy snowfall. The heaviest snowfall is on
the west coast in the vicinity of latitude
S7®N. in central Honshu rather than farther
north where average temperatures and
hence precipitation are lower. Railroads
have built many miles of snow sheds, but
service may be interrupted for days at a
time. In many towns along the Japan Sea
and in the mountains, covered sidewalks
and wide eaves known as gang! are neces-
sary to permit winter access when the
snow is deep. Strong winter gales make it
necessary to weight house shingles with
large stones.

There are few harbors along either coast,
but the cooler waters provide a favorable
habitat for sardines so that fishing is
important.

Farms average 3)^ to 4 acres, twice the
sine farther south where double cropping
is feasible. Rice is grown wherever it may
be irrigated, but other crops are favored
by cooler conditions. White potatoes and
beans do well, as do millet, buckwheat, and
barley. Three quarters of Japan's apples
are raised here, and have a flavor superior

to those grown in the south. Cherries are
another new fruit. Horse raising is a thriv-
ing industry. Serious agricultural distress
prevailed during the 1930's.

Northern Honshu has a number of rela-
tively important natural resources. Copper
is mined at Kosaki, Hitachi, and elsewhere.
The coal mines at Joban south of Sendai
are the third ranking producer. North
of Sendai there are blast furnaces at
Kamaishi, also of third rank in the nation.
Along the Sea of Japan are the country's
leading petroleum fields, especially near
Niigata in the Echigo hills. Reserves are
limited, and intensive developments have
failed to yield satisfactory production.
Gold, silver, sulphur, and hydroelectric
power are also developed in the central
mountains.

The small percentage of level land has
restricted population. Cities are few and
industries lacking. There is little overseas
trade, and Yokohama serves as the chief
port. The two urban centers of Northern
Honshu are Sendai on the east coast,
population 219,547 in 1935, and Niigata
on the west, population 134,992 in 1935.
Each lies in a small plain along the sea.

Chapter 13

REGIONS OF OUTER JAPAN

Surrounding the homeland of Old Japan peripheral location will permanently handi-
is a series of newer regions. Hokkaido is cap development,

politically a part of Japan proper; Kara- This northern , island, lying almost in
futo, the Chishima or Kurile Islands, the latitude of Nova Scotia, has a marine
Korea or Chosen, Formosa or Taiwan, and phase of the Asiatic climate with severe
the Liuchiu or Eyukyu Islands were ruled winters. Rainfall on the agricultural low-
as dependencies; while the Marshall, Caro- lands approximates 40 inches. Along the
line, and Mariana Islands were acquired as east coast, cool offshore currents from the
mandates. Manchuria or ‘‘Manchoukuo” north bring fogs as in Nova Scotia. There
was increasingly within the Japanese orbit is little winter sunshine in the west and
after 1931 but has already been described one interior station reports but 44 hours
under China. Although sometimes re- for the entire month of January. The two
ferred to as Japan’s life line, its importance largest cities of Hakodate and Sapporo
prior to the war with the United States average but 84 hours each. Daily average
was largely strategic. More capital was temperatures during the winter remain con-
poured into Manchuria than the economic tinuously below freezing for four months,
dividends warranted. Asahizawa has reported a minimum tem-

Outer Japan includes the regions of perature of — 4UF., and in Sapporo the
Hokkaido, Karafuto, Kuriles, Korea, For- thermometer has dropped to — 16®F.
mosa, and the South Seas. The frost-free period is generally less

than 150 days, and in the north drops
Hokkaido below 90, which is the minimum grow-

ing period for the most rapidly matur-
Hokkaido is Japan’s northland, a fron- ing varieties of rice. Unfortunately these
tier of settlement with a population density averages vary widely from year to year,
but one-sixth that of Honshu. Since this Hazards of unseasonable frost and occa-
is the newest part of Japan proper, much sional drought make agriculture somewhat
of it has a pioneer landscape. This is the precarious.

remaining home of the aboriginal Ainu, of The winter monsoon begins at the end
whom only 16,000 remain. These non- of September or early in October and
Japanese peoples once occupied most of continues until late in March. Strong
Old Japan. ^ northwest winds, occasionally of gale

Sixty per cent of the island is still strength, bring snowstorms of unusual
covered with boreal forests, underlain by intensity. A snow cover of several feet is
peaty or podsolic soils. The land that is common in the west, occasionally reaching
potentially arable amounts to 14 per cent a depth of six feet. The summer southeast
and resembles that of Old Japan, but re- monsoon from May to September is
strictions of short growing season and intermittent and weak. As this warm air

229

230

Regions of Outer Japan

passes over the cold water of the Oya Siwa, The extractive industries of mining,
chilled by melting sea ice from the Bering forestry, and fishing are relatively more
Sea, considerable fog results in June and important than elsewhere in Japan. The

The Amu who now live m Hokkaido are a non-Japanese race who once occupied most of the islands. {Burton

Holmes f from Ewing Oalloway.)

July in the east. Late summer is the most island contains the largest coal reserves,

pleasant period.

Although many aspects of Hokkaido’s
geography differ from Old Japan to the
south, there is a similarity in the associa-
tion of mountains and lowlands. The
lowest plains represent alluvial deposits,
often poorly drained. The most important
of these is the Ishikari Plain which contains
a large share of the population. Diluvial
terraces and ash fields are widespread. Two
north-south mountain ranges cross the
island, intersected by an east-west series
of volcanoes. Where they meet, elevations
exceed a mile.

but they are unfortunately much disturbed
by faulting and folding. A dozen mines
produce a fair quality of bituminous coal
that makes a poor but usable coke. Deposits
of iron ore supplemented by imported
supplies are the basis for the steel and
iron industry at Muroran which ranks
as the second center in Japan. Copper,
gold, silver, and sulphur are also secured.
Hokkaido produces one-sixth of Japan’s
timber, some of which is made into paper
on the island; reserves are excellent. About
a fifth of the fish catch is accounted for here,
and numerous canneries have long been

The American-style barns of Hokkaido are a reminder of the initial assistance provided by agricultural experts
from the United States. {Germaine Kellerman^ courtesy Japan Reference Library.)

are remote from the chief centers of Japa- Hokkaido has some 12,000 milk cows
nese population. and the most extensive dairy industry in

With the development of railroads in the the country, shipping considerable quanti-
decade following 1880, farmers began to ties of canned milk and butter. Some of the
come into the Ishikari Plain. Most of the cattle are kept in American-style barns
island was then an unoccupied wilderness, and fed from corn-filled silos, a reflection
As the result of extensive agricultural ex- of the early agricultural advice supplied
perimentation, the Japanese have learned by American experts. Horses are seven
how to grow rice in this northern climate, or eight times as numerous as on the farms
but it occupies only 24 per cent of the of Old Japan, with a total of over 200,000
cultivated land, less than half the average in Hokkaido. Another reflection of early
in Old Japan. If all varieties of beans are American influence is seen in the use of
considered together, they take first place “giddap,** “whoa,’* ‘‘gee,” and “haw.”
in acreage. Apples, white potatoes, sugar Despite the differences in climate, Japa-
beets, cherries, and hay replace tea and nese immigrants have transplanted their
mulberry as cash crops. Hokkaido and conventional subtropical house tyi>es with-
Korea are the only places where oats are out much modification for the severe winter
important. Peppermint is a specialized conditions. Farms average 11 acres in size.

232

Regions of Outer Japan

il^ually in one continuous unfenced plot.
Hoads are laid out in accordance with
rectangular land surveys, drawn prior to
settlement, and fields conform to the road
pattern. In contrast to the clustered settle-
ments of Old Japan, individual dissemi-
nated farmsteads dot the landscape.

Life in Hokkaido is not attractive to the
average Japanese farmer, and colonization
is largely the result of government sub-
sidies. Now that the best land has been
occupied, there is an increasing unwilling-
ness of Japanese to settle in the island. In
1914 some 320,000 people went to the
northland, a considerable increase in view
of the fact that the total population was
then under 2,000,000. But in the years
from 1916 to 1921, there was an average
of only 77,000 incoming residents. During
the next five-year period, the average fell
to 28,000 and in 1933 it declined to 22,000.

The agricultural population numbers
about 2,000,000, and colonization authori-
ties believe that there will be room for an
additional 1,000,000 farmers, although
expensive irrigation and drainage will be
required to bring more land into cultiva-
tion. The urban population amounts to
800,000 and it is thought that this may be
increased by approximately 2,000,000. The
chief cities are the capital Sapporo in
the Ishikari Plain, population 196,541 in
1935, and the principal seaport and rail
terminus Hakodate, population 207,480 in
1935.

The presence of undeveloped settlement
possibilities within this island of Japan
proper raises serious questions as to Japan’s
justification in seeking lands elsewhere
outside the Empire, particularly at com-
parable latitudes on the mainland. It
emphasizes too the essentially subtropical
character of Japanese culture and the
unwillingness of the people to leave their
homeland and settle in lands where rice is
not easily raised. Thus the total number of

Japanese settlers throughout the world
outside of the Empire numbers a million,
of whom half are accounted for by those
in Manchuria. This compares with seven
million Chinese who have left China, in
addition to several times that number who
moved into Manchuria when it became
open to settlement. Japanese emigrants liv-
ing in Brazil number 200,000 while there are
126,947 in the United States and another
157,905 in Hawaii, and but 3,000 in all
Europe.

Karafvio

Thirty miles north of Hokkaido lies the
elongated island of Sakhalin, owned half
and half by Japan and the Soviet Union
since 1905. Prior to that time there was a
period of Russian control and, still earlier,
informal Japanese and Russian claims
that date back to the seventeenth century.
In 1875 Japan agreed to give up Sakhalin
while Russia in turn withdrew from the
Kuriles. The Japanese have given the
southern half of the island its old Ainu
name of Karafuto.

Karafuto is cold. Winter lasts six months,
and snow covers the island to an average
depth of three feet, so that dog sleds are
in common use. Summer is the more moist
season, but the total precipitation is only
25 inches. Records of the seven meteor-
ological stations show rain or snow every
day in the year except for 22 to 53 days.
Most ports are icebound for long periods,
and the loading of oil tankers in the north-
ern half of the island is impossible for eight
months. At some ports occasional winter
steamers tie up at the ice margin offshore
and transport goods to the land by sleds.

Two mountain chains limit level land to
narrow coastal fragments and a central
lowland. Soils are podsolic and of low
fertility.

The wealth of the island is its timber,
fish, oil, and coal. Agriculture is expanding.

The Kuriles

2S3

but only slowly. In 1937 there were 10,811
agricultural families in Karafuto, including
623 arrivals. In 1932, the new agricultural
colonists numbered 1,341. The cultivated
area amounts to only 86,175 acres. Optimis-
tic estimates suggest that the potentially
arable land is many times this acreage, but
poor soil, short growing seasons, and
limited sunshine restrict agricultural possi-
bilities. Government-sponsored immigrants
from Old Japan, accustomed to rice and
intensive cultivation, find great difficulty
in adjusting to these new conditions. The
more adjustable colonists come from Hok-
kaido. Each new settler is allotted 12j^ to
25 acres and a log house of Russian style.
Chief crops are oats, fodder, potatoes, and
peas in order. Rice experiments are partly
successful.

Fishing is the oldest occupation and
conditions resemble those in Hokkaido at
the turn of the century. Squalid fishing
villages border many bays. Each summer
10,000 fishermen and other workers come
from the islands to the south to supplement
those who live there. Herring, sea trout,
salmon, cod, and crab are the chief catch,
in order. Many of the fish are processed for
fertilizer or oil, or are dried and salted for
shipment as food. Canned crab meat is an
important export to the United States.

Many of those who fish during the sum-
mer months work as lumbermen in the
winter. Coniferous forests with dense
undergrowth cover many of the mountains,
interspersed with patches of tundra. Trees
are usually small, and forest fires serious.
Spruce is cut for pulpwood and paper,
and there are also fir, larch, birch, elm, and
willow. Mine .props, railroad ties, and
charcoal are each important, but pulp is
by far the most valuable product. At
Shiretori is what is reported to be the
largest and most modern pulp plant in
eastern Asia. The total value of lumbering
exceeds fishing.

Coal reserves are moderate, but the
production is mainly used on the island for
railroads and other needs. Soft bituminous
coal is Eocene in age, and there is also
Pliocene lignite. Beds occur on both fianks
of the western range. Some oil is secured
in Karafuto, but the output is disappoint-
ing. The northern half of the island, under
Soviet control, contains extensive oil de-
posits, and since 1925 Japanese interests
had concessions in ten fields, in each of
which their operations were limited to
alternate checkerboard plots. In 1934 there
were 159 Japanese wells, whose yield
accounted for a quarter of Japan’s total
output. The Soviet government is also
vitally interested in its 166 wells, for this
is the chief production east of the Urals
and the Japanese concession was ended in
1944.

The population of Japanese Karafuto in
1930 numbered 295,000, in contrast to
some 15,000 in Soviet Sakhalin. The dis-
tribution is very uneven, and two-thirds
live in the eleven towns which have over
4,000 each. Most settlements are along
the coast or in the Suzuya Plain in the
south where Otomari and Toyohara are
the chief cities.

The Kuriles

Japan’s northernmost possession is a
chain of islands from Hokkaido north-
eastward to the tip of Soviet Kamchatka
at latitude 51°N. These are the Chishima
or thousand islands, better known to
foreigners by their Russian names of
Kuriles which means “smoke.” Actually
there are but 32 islands, mostly volcanic.
Precipitous cliffs fringe the shores and
there is virtually no agricultural land. Snow
falls from mid-September to June, and
there is much fog in the summer.

The Kuriles are surrounded by valuable
fishing grounds which attract a large num-
ber of boats in summer. Salmon, cod, and

Regions of Outer Japan

234

.crab are important. On tbe islands are
large bears, fox, and sable. Fur seals and
sea otter have been protected since the
1911 treaty between Japan, Russia, Great
Britain, and the United States.

The North Pacific great-circle route lies
near both the Kuriles and Aleutian Islands,
but steamers avoid each group on account
of fog. This is the closest contact between
the Japanese Empire and the United
States. Unfavorable flying conditions make
both groups ill-suited for trans-Pacific
aviation.

Korea^

Korea presents a series of problems:
political, agricultural, and cultural. The
Koreans are ethnographically a distinct
people. Throughout their history there has
been a constant struggle to maintain their
national entity. Situated on the borderlands
of China, Korea has been alternately in-
dependent and subject in varying degree
to China. Culturally she owes much to her
continental neighbor, although there were
independent or concurrent developments
within the peninsula. Koreans have their
own language, literature, and customs. It
was by way of the peninsula that Japan
gained much of its culture.

For centuries the country was so beset
and ravaged by invasions of Chinese, Mon-
gols, Manchus, and Japanese that she
sought to maintain isolation and thus
gained the title of “the Hermit Nation.”
The weakened position of the people was
not much improved during the isolation
period because of bitter internal political
strife, so that Korea was but a weak pawn
in the struggle associated with Japan’s rise
to power. One of the avowed objectives
of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and
again of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-

‘The author is particularly indebted to Shannon
McCune for assistance in preparing this section.

1905 was to give the peninsula its inde-
pendence, but since that time Japanese
influence has been on the increase. After a
short protectorate, Korea was formally
annexed in 1910. Koreans have not wel-
comed Japanese rule and there have been
uprisings, such as that of 1919. Independ-
ence following the Second World War was
one of the early objectives of the United
Nations. The official Japanese name of the
country is Chosen, rcmanized as Tyosen.

Japan’s exploitation brought widespread
material improvements in communications,
agricultural yields, and mining, but the
relative livelihood of the Korean farmer
appears to be declining. A good example
is education where a strong policy of
Japanization was developed. A high official
epitomized the objectives when he stated
that “Koreans should be taught to follow,
not to know.” There are school facilities
for only about 18 per cent of the children,
contrasted with 99.5 per cent in Japan.
The economic lot of Korea seems to be
worsening, for with the bettering of mate-
rial conditions there has been a dispropor-
tionate increase in population, in tenancy,
in debt, and in imports over exports. Ow-
ing to this economic pressure many Koreans
have engaged in the shadier aspects of
Japanese exploitation, not only in Korea
but in other lands and thus have sadly
brought discredit on their name. Many
people believe that this moral degradation
is one of the most tragic aspects of Japan’s
influence on Korea.

In the life of modern Japan, Korea
became a source of food and raw materials
such as rice, cotton, fish, iron ore, coal,
and gold; a market for manufactured goods;
an outlet for nonagricultural colonists;
and a strategic approach to the mainland.
At one time it was a bulwark against
Russian advance, but later, except for the
extreme northeast, Manchuria took that
place. Although it is predominantly an

Rugged topography characterizes the Konga San or Diamond Mountains of eastern Korea.

air they seem to be without number; range
after range extend to the horizon so that
the land resembles a sea in a heavy gale.
High mountains are lacking; it is their pro-
fusion that impresses one. No plain is so
extensive that the encircling mountains
cannot be seen on a fair day. Although
mostly small, these plains are vital, for it is
in this one-fifth of the 86,000 square miles
that the 23,000,000 people are crowded.
Beneath the surface is a complex of
granite, gneiss, and early Paleozoic and
late Proterozoic limestones and metamor-
phics. Patches of Carboniferous and Creta-
ceous formations occur, especially in the
southeast. Recent deposits are confined to
small areas. The distinction between older
and younger alluviiun is not emphasized as
in Japan. Neither volcanoes nor earth-
quakes are active. The gneiss is resistant

The Manchurian frontier is marked by
two rivers and a mountain range. The Yalu
flows southwestward and marks a very
strong cultural boundary. The Tumen
drains northeast, but across it Koreans
have migrated for centuries. Between the
headwaters lies the volcanic Hakuto San,
or Paitou Shan in Chinese, with a maximum
elevation of 9,020 feet. At the summit is a
large crater lake comparable to that in
Oregon. There are few open valleys, and
much of the northern frontier is an unin-
habited land with magnificent forests of
spruce, fir, larch, and pine. The geologic
development and erosional history have
given rise to the Kaima Plateau, a rolling
upland in some places lava-capped, dis-
sected by deeply entrenched rivers, and
disrupted by some minor ranges. There is
abrupt transition to the east from this

236

Regions of Outer Japan

mterior upland, marked by sharp fault
escarpments. To the southwest, the descent

i6"J

SiBom. (Keijo)

Average temperature 51‘*F.; total precipitation,
50.5 inches.

is more gradual to the mountains, valleys,
and plains of northwestern Korea.

Northern and Southern Korea are sepa- ’
rated by a graben which cuts the peninsula
along a northeast-southwest line followed
by the railroad from Genzan to Keijo, or
Seoul. This is the major geographic bound-
ary of the country. South and east of this
line, Korea is dominated by the Taihaku
Mountain range which parallels the east
coast. This is a maturely dissected block,
a mile in height, which slopes gently to
the west but descends abruptly to the
Japan Sea. The most picturesque scenery
occurs in the Kongo San, or Diamond
Mountains. The Rakuto Basin of the south-
east is divided from the rest of the peninsula
by a range, the Syohaku, trending south-
west from the southern Taihaku. There are
many other ranges caused by old earth
folds or recent tectonic activity which
confuse the structure of southern Korea.

Most rivers rise in the mountains near
the Japan Sea and flow into the Yalu and
Tumen systems or westward to the Yellow

Sea. None of them is long. Thus the widest
plains are on the west, and the economic
life of these areas might tend to move to-
ward the continent were it not for Japa-
nese occupation. There are few harbors on
the east, while the western and southern
embayed coast lines with their many islands
provide better shelter, for fishing vessels
or modern steamers, although the high
tides are a handicap.

The climatic characteristics of Korea
more nearly resemble those of central and
north China than Japan. There are con-
siderable contrasts between winter and
summer in the different regions. Because
of the location of the peninsula on the
margins of the Asiatic winter high pressure
area, there are monsoonal drifts of cold
dry air coming from the north and west
during the cold season. The passage of
cyclonic storms, especially strong in the
spring and fall, brings periodic variations
to the winter weather. There is more pre-
cipitation due to these storms in the south
than in the north; even so it is slight com-
pared with the summer rains. Snow may
stay long on the ground in the north but
it melts quickly in the mild temperatures
of the south. The northern interior has
bitterly cold winters; only the extreme
southern fringe has mean January tem-
peratures above freezing. For example,
the frost-free period varies from 130 days
in the northern interior (Tyokotin), to
178 days in the center (Keijo), to 226 in the
south (Pusan).

Summers are hot and humid with a
marked concentration of the annual rain-
fall. Regional temperature contrasts are not
so sharp in summer as in winter, although
the northern interior and northeastern
littoral are cooler than the south. Within
Korea precipitation varies mainly with
orographic position; the highest amounts
are over 60 inches along the Syohaku
range, in the south; and the least are in the

sheltered Tumen basin, less than 25 inches, in Japan itself. The population density of
Since most of the precipitation occurs dur- 190 per square mile in 1937 is less than half
ing the growing season, agriculture is that of Japan but this fails to give a true

Threshing with a flail in a farm courtyard of Korea. {Courtesy Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.)

normally well supplied. Occasional torren- picture. Eighty per cent of all Koreans
tial storms, caused by typhoons or con- live on the soil, and there is little profit
vection, may do much damage but are to them from mining, forestry, or industry,
rare. Centuries of intensive cultivation have

Sharp seasonal contrasts are charac- impoverished the soil, so that crop yields
teristic, as shown by extremes at Keijo, are low. Fertilization would help, but
where the maximum is over 100°F. and the po very-stricken farmers are in no position
minimum —10°r. The proximity to the to make the necessary adjustments,
continental interior makes these extremes Korean agriculture is characterized by
normal. Naturally they are greater in the the intensity of human labor. Only the
north and in the interior rather than in simplest tools are available, and there is
the south or along the coast. neither capital nor experience for the use

Although the area of Korea is but of machinery. Crops are similar to those
slightly over half that of Japan proper, described in Japan, although yields per
cultivated land totaled 11,034,342 acres acre are often but half. Since the annexa-
in 1936 as compared with 14,907,973 acres tion of Korea in 1910, agricultural experi-

iS8

Regions of Outer Japan

mentation has materially increased yields southeast has a figure of 192, in contrast

and quality. The average holding per farm to 109 in the northeast.

family is 8.6 acres, but most of the farms The economy of Korea is tuned to the

A farm landscape on the outskirts of Kosyu. This December scene shows barley planted in the rice fields.

(Courtesy of Shannon McCune.)

are smaller and are diminishing in size cultivation of rice which is the major crop,
while the large holdings of Japanese- although occupying only a third of the
fiinanced companies are increasing in num- cultivated land. Almost all of the rice is
her and area. irrigated, but two-thirds of the flooded

Double cropping is somewhat more com- fields are precariously dependent for water
mon than in Japan proper, and the average upon fortunate rainfall; one-fortieth of
for the whole country, in terms of 100 as the rice is sown as a dry crop. Japanese
representing single-crop utilization, is esti- government supervision conspicuously in-
mated by Lee^ at 134. Corresponding creased the acreage of rice by 25.3 per cent

figures for Japan are 128 (Nasu) and from 1910 to 1935 and the yield by 71.6

China, 147 (Buck). These figures are for per cent. The yield and acreage fluctuate
the entire country; actually most of the considerably from year to year; price
double cropping is concentrated in the fluctuations are also pronounced and work
southern portions where climatic conditions adversely to the tenant farmers. Official
are favorable. For example, the extreme estimates of yields are 17 bushels per acre

Hoon K.. “Land Utiliaation and Bural

Economy in Korea,” Institute of Pacific Relations, case far below the Japanese average of 43

Shanghai: Kelley and Walsh (1936), 118. bushels. Over two-fifths of the rice crop

Korea

239

is shipped to the Japanese Islands to meet especially in the northwest; wheat is grown
the deficiency there. This leaves an inade- in the same area. Other crops include grain
quate food supply for Korea which is sorghum, oats, buckwheat, corn, white and

A farmstead m an isolated mountain valley, with cultivated fields on the steep hillside. {Courtesy of Shannon

McCune.)

partly corrected by imports of millet from
Manchuria.

Barley represents the second most im-
portant crop and is the principal food for
the mass of the people. It occupied an
acreage just over three-fifths that of rice,
had just under three-fifths of the yield, but
only one-fifth of the value in 1935. In
southern Korea barley is planted during
October or November in the drained rice
fields or on dry fields and harvested in June
or July. In the north, where winters are
more severe, it is sown in the spring. Soy
and other varieties of beans occupied
similar positions in acreage and value as
barley, but fit into the agricultural economy
quite differently. Millet is also important

sweet potatoes. There are many vegetables
especially turnips and cabbage used in
kimchi, the Korean pickle. Excellent pears
and apples are grown, but no citrus fruits.

Southern Korea is well suited for the
growing of American varieties of cotton;
native varieties are grown in the northwest.
Virtually all of Japan’s production is ob-
tained there. Increasing acreages and better
yields have resulted from government
pressure. The growth of mulberry and the
production of silk are widespread sub-
sidiary agricultural occupations, but are of
minor importance in comparison with
Japan proper.

Korean cattle are of good quality and the
total number of oxen and cows exceeds that

240

Regions of Outer Japan

of all Japan proper. There is an average of
one to every two farm houses; most of the
cattle actually are used communally. There
are many more swine than in Japan.

Climatic conditions divide Korea into
two major agricultural regions, the northern
and southern. Unlike the geomorphic
boundary which is a northeast-southwest
line, the climatic and agricultural boundary
tends to run from southeast to northwest,
deflected southward by the mountains
along the Japan Sea. Although the regions
are roughly equal in size, more than three-
fourths of the rice is grown in the south
together with almost all of the cotton,
barley, and sweet potatoes. Northern
Korea specializes in the hardier grains in
addition to rice. Although double cropping
is characteristic of the south, severe winter
conditions make it impractical in the north.

One of the unfortunate features of farm-
ing in the northern interior and in the
central mountain sections is the practice
of “fire-field” agriculture, or burning the
hillsides in preparation for planting a
temporary crop. There are extensive areas
of state forest land, and squatters quasi-
illegally bum the brush or grass in order
to fertilize the soil preparatory to planting
crops of millet, oats, or potatoes. After
one or two years, fertility diminishes and
erosion becomes serious, so that the fields
may be abandoned. The government is
striving to regularize these practices. After
almost static conditions from 1919 to 1928
there was slight increase to 1932; then the
fire-cleared acreage more than doubled by

1934 and remained almost the same in

1935 with a figure of a million acres, a
tenth of the cultivated area.

Throughout Korea, especially in the
south, tenancy and debt are of tragic con-
cern and intimately affect land utilization
and rural landscapes. Japanese authorities
do not publicize these aspects, so that one
must turn to the study that Lee made in

1931 and 1932. Undoubtedly conditions
have become much worse since that time.
According to Lee, 48.4 per cent of the farm
households are tenants, and 29.6 per cent
are part tenants; in other words “almost
four out of every five Korean farmers are
tenants.” The most prevalent rent is about
one-half of the yield; it may be as high as
nine-tenths. Since most of the leasing is
for only one year, the land is exploited as
much as possible. There are many other
undesirable conditions and customs of
tenancy. In addition, three out of four
farmers are heavily in debt for amounts
averaging almost twice their average total
yearly income. Interest rates are about
80 per cent but they go as high as 70 to
80 per cent. Although figures are unavail-
able, there is a great increase of land in the
hands of Japanese capitalists. Some of the
developments in the south during the late
1930’s of large well-irrigated tracts by
Japanese companies, including the notori-
ous Oriental Development Company, are
very striking.

About 73 per cent of Korea is forest land.
In the densely settled areas most of the
commercial timber has long since been
removed, so that there is only a cover of
scrub trees and grass. The best timber re-
source is along the Manchurian border
where there are excellent stands of spruce,
fir, larch, and pine. The remaining forests,
mainly in the mountain lands of the
south, are dominantly pine with some oak
and elm. The chief use of these forest lands
is for domestic firewood. A little bamboo is
grown in protected patches in the extreme
south and is almost a crop rather than
natural forest.

The peninsula of Korea has several
minerals that Japan finds of value. Mineral
production and associated industries were
greatly expanded during the Second World
War. These included aluminum works,
chemicals, nonferrous refining, machinery.

Korea

241

and munitions. Gold has been known for The cities, which in the past existed
many decades, and there were American largely for administrative or market func-
concessions even before the period of tions, are the centers for increasing modem

The harbor of Rashin in northern Korea provides a new gateway to Manchuria. These apartment houses were
built for workers during the construction of the port that lies to the left of the photograph.

Japanese occupation. With the increased
price of gold in 1934 and Japan’s growing
need for foreign exchange, production was
increased greatly, from an output of 199,483
troy ounces in 1930 to an estimated yield
of 838,709 troy ounces in 1937. Both placer
and lode deposits are widely scattered.

The second most important mineral is
iron ore, mined in the western peninsula.
Most of it is shipped to Japan, but there are
blast furnaces and steel mills at Kenjiho;
Chinnampo, southwest of Heijo, or Pyon-
gyang; and the far north. Another new
development is just across the border in
Manchuria at Tungpientao. Coal is the
third most important mineral product with
an output of 2,282,000 metric tons in 1936.
Two-thirds of the reserves are anthracite,
with mines near Heijo; the remainder is
poor lignite. Copper, silver, and tungsten
are mined. Graphite is one of the more
unusual resources, but competition with
deposits in Ceylon makes the yield
fluctuate, although the quality is excellent.

Among power resources are hydroelectric
projects, especially those which utilize the
Yalu and its tributaries.

industrialization. The largest city, Keijo,
or Seoul, is the governmental, financial, and
cultural center of the peninsula, with a
population of 706,396 in 1937; it has grow-
ing industrial suburbs. The major city of
the northwest, Heijo, or Pyongyang, 185,-
419, and Taikyu in the southeast, 110,866,
are also becoming industrial centers. The
two important seaports are Fusan at the
railway terminus opposite Japan, 213,142,
and Jinsen or Chemulpo, 102,473, the gate-
way of Keijo on the west coast. In the far
northeast the developing ports of Yuki
and Rashin serve as outlets for central
Manchuria.

Out of a total population of 22,355,485 in
1937, there are 629,000 Japanese. Few of
these are farmers, although many sub-
sidized efforts have been made to attract
colonists. Most of the Japanese are in
government service, including railways;
others are merchants. Most of the industry,
of which cotton textiles is the chief, is like-
wise in Japanese hands. Four-fifths of all
Korea’s foreign trade is with Japan proper,
and an excess of imports is gradually drain-
ing the country of its limited wealth.

Regions of Outer Japan

242

Whereas it is true that Japanese occu-
pation has tended to impoverish the aver-
age Korean, it is also true that possession of
Korea has not been a blessing to the aver-
age Japanese. Korean laborers are able to
underlive the Japanese. In fact, the Korean
fanner is the only one in the world who has
been able to compete successfully with the
Chinese. Large numbers of Korean laborers
have migrated to the industrial districts of
Japan, often upon solicitation of Japanese
factories, because of the their lo|ver wage
scale. This cheap labor displaces ^Japanese
workers and adds to the labor difficulties at
home. The number of Koreans in Japan
proper rose from 40,775 in 1920 to 419,009
in 1930. Figures for 1940 would show
actually more Koreans in Japan than
Japanese in Korea.

Korea does not look like Japan. Volcanic
landscapes are absent, hills are covered with
scrub and are eroded, and cultivation is less
intensive. It is particularly in the cultural
element that contrasts are most noticeable.
Houses are substantially built with mud
walls, and their floors are heated by pas-
sages underneath which circulate smoke
from kitchen fires. Rural settlement is
commonly in villages, often located at the
edge of the hills; but in the northern
interior isolated, wooden-shingled farm-
houses are common. Neither roads nor
irrigation canals are so numerous as in the
islands. Green fertilizer and compost re-
place the human manure of Japan and
China. Most noticeable is the difference in
racial appearance and dress, although the
white clothing of the Koreans of a decade
ago is being changed to darker colors.

Korea has been subjected to tremendous
changes since 1910. How many of these
transformations are products of the times
or the result of Japanese initiative is
difficult to judge rightly. Nevertheless,
Korea offers a laboratory to study Japanese
colonial policies and their effects. The fact

that there are still so many problems, both
old and new, is significant. Independence
has been increasingly demanded and will
doubtless occur with the defeat of Japan.
Some years of tutelage will be needed,
and Korea may need to come within the
sphere of influence of some other great
power, presumably China.

Formosa

The island of Formosa or Taiwan repre-
sents one of the major areas of expanding
agriculture within the Empire. Rapid and
ambitious exploitation is under way, and
large shipments of sugar, rice, bananas,
and pineapple supplement the food supply
of Old Japan.

The name Formosa is a Portuguese word
meaning beautiful and dates back to
the seventeenth century when the Portu-
guese contested with the Dutch and
Spanish for possession. Taiwan is the
ancient native name, as well as the legal
Japanese term. Chinese control became
effective in 1683 and lasted until the Sino-
Japanese War of 1894-1895. Chinese influ-
ence still persists, for nine-tenths of the
population of 5,212,426 (1935) are Chinese
from the near-by provinces of Fukien and
Kwantung. Japanese number less than
300,000, practically none of them agricul-
turalists. The population of Formosa has
doubled since the beginning of the century.

The general configuration of the island
is that of a tilted fault block, sloping to the
west from a range of two-mile-high moun-
tains along the eastern axis. The highest
peak in the island, and for that matter in
the Empire, is Niitaka, known to foreigners
as Mt. Morrison, 12,956 feet. This peak
gives its name to the entire range. Slopes
on the east descend precipitously to the
sea, but between the central Niitaka
Range and the Pacific are the Taito low-
land and mountains. Fertile coastal plains
border the western shore.

Formosa

243

Formosa lies astride the Tropic of Cancer
in a position comparable to that of Cuba.
Its shores are bathed by the warm Kuro-
shio. Tropical conditions prevail except in
the mountains where there is alpine vege-
tation. Lowland temperatures never reach
freezing and seldom approach 100°F. The
island is exposed to the monsoons, that of
the winter being especially important. The
northeastern monsoon lasts from early
October till late March and, since its
direction coincides with the trade winds,
to be expected at these latitudes, strong
winds result. Steamers along the China
coast barely make headway at times. These
winds bring copious precipitation, par-
ticularly to the north where heavy oro-
graphic rainfall results.

The southwest summer monsoon from
early May to late August is weaker, since
it is masked by the trade-wind tendency.
Occasional summer typhoons bring concen-
trated rainfall to the abrupt eastern slopes.
The annual precipitation in the lowland
varies from 40 inches in the west to double
that amount near the mountains. Within
the mountains rainfall is among the
heaviest in the world, with a recorded
maximum of 289 inches at Kashoryo.

Seventy per cent of Formosa is in forest.
Where the land has not been cleared, there
is a tropical cover of camphor, cypress,
bamboo, and other forms, many of them
of commercial value. Mangroves border
the shallow western coast.

Agriculture resembles the Chinese pat-
tern, with rice terraces, water buffalos,
pigs, two-wheeled carts, ducks, and Chinese
implements. The cultivated area is 2,116,-
174 acres (1937), so that the population
density in terms of cropland alone is 1,576
per square mile.

Rice is the dominant food crop, but
exports to Japan slightly exceed domestic
consumption and amounted to 28 per cent
of Formosa’s outgoing business in 1937. Two

harvests a year are common. Sweet pota-
toes, introduced long ago from China, are
the main food of the poorer folk. The most

90 ®

Taihoku )

Average temperature, 69°F.; total precipitation,
88.6 inches.

spectacular increase is the production of
sugar cane, grown especially in the west
and north. Despite the world surplus,
Japanese interests have expanded its pro-
duction manyfold in Formosa in order to
make the Empire self-sufficient. The Ship-
ment of raw sugar to Japan was 42 per
cent of the island’s export trade in 1937.
Yields and costs are still less satisfactory
than in Java. Sugar consumption in Japan
increased from 15 pounds per capita in
1918 to 30 pounds in 1928. Bananas and
canned pineapple are significant exports to
Japan. Oolong tea, widely grown in the
north, is consumed by the United States
and Great Britain.

Formosa supplies three-fourths of the
world’s natural camphor, but synthetic
substitutes are available so that the
natural product has lost its monopoly.
Jute and ramie are local fibers.

Good steamship coal is mined in the
north. Salt is evaporated along the western
coast for shipment to Japan. Some petro-
leum and a variety of metals are mined,
but production is small.

244 Regions of Outer Japan

'There are two cities of importance, ment remain, but increased efficiency has
Taihoku in the esrtreme north is the greatly improved crops and yields. The
capital and is 18 miles south of its port of place of the Japanese appears to be the

The mountains of eastern Formosa are inhabited by primitive peoples who have been head-hunters until
recently. {Frederick L. Hamilton^ from Three Lions.)

Keelung. In 1935 the population was 278,- same as in Korea — administrators and
446. Tainan is the center for the south, exploiters but not permanent settlers,
population 111,959 (1935). The only satis-
factory harbors are at the two ends of the

island. Several times a week there are After the First World War, greater Japan
steamer connections with Kobe and Yoko- extended to within 1° of the equator,
hama, and less frequently with Hongkong, for the Empire was given a mandate over
Formosa has failed to provide an outlet the former German possessions in the
for surplus Japanese farmers. Subsidized Marshall, Caroline, and Mariana or La-
attempts at colonization have not met with drone islands. Three other island groups lie
success, as the native Chinese are willing south of Old Japan. Directly south of
to live on a lower standard than the Kyushu are the Izu Shichito, politically a
Japanese. Few unoccupied areas for settle- part of Japan proper, while farther south

South Seas

245

are the Ogasawara or Bonin Islands. Be-
tween Kyushu and Formosa are the
Ryukyu, often known by their Chinese
name of Liuchiu.

As a whole, the groups have a tropical
climate with heavy rainfall and low seasonal
range of temperature. Destructive typhoons
visit the area during the summer.

Sweet potatoes are everywhere more
important than rice. Important develop-
ments in sugar-cane production have
characterized recent years. Cocoanuts, tapi-
oca, and taro reflect the low latitude.

The Ryukyu group includes 55 small
islands near the edge of the continental
shelf with a total area of 935 square miles.
Several are volcanic and level land is
limited on each. Coral reefs fringe the

shore. Overpopulation has led to emigration
to Japan proper and to Hawaii.

Within the mandated region are 1,458
islands and reefs, many of them quite
insignificant since the total area is but 830
square miles. The population has grown
rapidly, owing to migration from Japan.
The 1938 figures show 121,128 people of
whom 70,141 are Japanese. Most of the
latter live on Saipan in the Mariana group
and are engaged in sugar production.
Phosphate rock is mined on two islands.
The largest of the Marianas is Guam,
directly south of Saipan, and the property
of the United States. With this exception,
all islands north of the equator between the
Philippines and Wake were under Japanese
control.

Chapter 14

JAPAN’S WOELD POSITION

Foreign Trade

It is doubtful whether any other nation
has so transformed its economic life in a
similar period. Since the opening of Japan
in 1853, the country has made enormous
strides in its international position. Internal
and external expansion was especially
noticeable between the First and Second
World Wars. In the 50 years ending with
1938, overseas trade grew from 144 million
to 5,331 million yen. Japan’s share of total
world trade was still but 3.7 per cent in
1938, as compared with 13.7 per cent for
the United Kingdom and 11.8 per cent for
the United States.

In the international market, Japan’s
great assets are cheap labor, a considerable
measure of skill and eflSciency, and near-
ness to Asiatic consumers. Essential raw
materials are scarce, so that exports must
rest on imports. As long as Japan can add
enough secondary value to basic raw com-
modities through manufacturing, she can
command a market. Japanese labor costs
are rising so that this initial advantage is
nearly over. It is already profitable for
Japanese cotton mills to move to Shanghai
and there use cheap Chinese labor and then
undersell the native product in the home-
land. If Japanese export prices become too
high, it is possible for her customers to
install factories of their own since textile
and other machinery is available to any
country. The real test is comparative
inventiveness and commercial skill; polit-
ical advantage is temporary. Japan can
hold her markets only so long as she makes

a cheaper or better product than her com-
petitors, and enjoys international good will.
The old statement about the Japanese being
merely “copyists” no longer has much
meaning.

The first economic contacts with Europe
came with the arrival of the Portuguese and
Dutch at Nagasaki in the middle of the
sixteenth century, but this trade was
shortly suppressed and later restricted to
one Dutch ship a year. Not until the
treaties arranged by Admiral Perry in 1853
were foreigners permitted to carry on com-
merce, and the conspicuous developments
date from the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

The First World War presented great
commercial opportunities to Japan, and the
war years were one of the few periods when
exports exceeded imports. The resumption
of normal world trade in 1918 brought
a sharp drop in Japanese overseas sales,
but her foreign trade continued to be of
large proportions. The depression of the
1930’s presented new problems as nation
after nation imposed tariff restrictions and
endeavored to develop national self-suffi-
ciency. Japan is a poor country where a
closed economy is impossible. Agriculture
has proved incapable of caring for the
expanding population and the expense of
modernization, so that the nation is com-
mitted to industrialization and foreign
trade.

It is imperative for Japan to import if she
is to maintain anything approaching her
present standards. Food is nearly adequate
within the Empire, but many overseas
products such as cotton* wool, petroleum,

Foreign Trade

iron, and machinery are indispensable. This
is true even though all exports should cease.
But to pay for these indispensable mate-
rials, silk, sea foods, and art goods are the
only native export products. Foreign sales
of manufactured imports must be ex-
panded, no matter whether at a profit or
not, but each expansion of exports requires
added imports. Unfortunately, Japan’s
major exports are either luxury goods, such
as silk, or items like cotton cloth which are
available elsewhere. Japan’s trade problem
is thus the necessity of securing markets.
This has required skill but has been
generally successful.

It is always difficult to determine the
exact international balance of payments for
a country as there are so many invisible
items. Between the beginning of the First
and Second World Wars, total imports of
merchandise exceeded exports by over a
billion yen. This was more than offset by
income from shipping, tourists, dividends,
and other foreign services, so that the
international balance of trade and services
was favorable. On the other hand, large
exports of capital and gold shipments give
the total picture a negative aspect. The in-
vestments in Manchuria and elsewhere may
someday return a profit, but the immediate
prospects are unfavorable.

During the past half century the char-
acter of Japanese trade has undergone
several changes. An early concentration on
manufactured imports is changing to the
purchase of raw materials; likewise in
exports the emphasis has shifted from raw
silk to cotton textiles and simple manu-
factures. Thus, finished goods accounted
for 29 per cent of the sales in 1913, and 59
per cent in 1938.

The leading export is now cotton cloth.
Raw silk is second but declining, and in its
place Japan produces rayon. Sales of sea
foods and lumber are significant, as is a
large miscellaneous group of variety goods.

247 ,

Imported materials include raw cotton
and wool, iron ore, pig iron, scrap steel,
minerals, petroleum products, bean cake,
chemicals, and machine tools.

Because of her dependence upon essen-
tial imports, Japan suffers when her cur-
rency is depreciated or when world prices
rise. On the other hand, she profits greatly
at times of world surplus when many
nations are willing to dump their products
at prices below costs. It is an open question
as to whether Japan is seriously handi-
capped by not having her own basic com-
modities; military strategy is another
matter.

In order to solve the financial aspects of
her import needs, Japan endeavored to set
up a closed financial system in eastern Asia
known as the yen bloc. But neither Man-
churia nor China proper supplied Japan’s
material deficiencies. Cotton might be
grown, but boycotts and disrupted eco-
nomics have handicapped the supply.
Coal, iron, and salt are available, but the
war with China restricted production.
Only after her conquests in southeastern
Asia following 1941 did the “Greater East
Asia Co-prosperity Sphere” include a self-
sufficient economic realm.

In normal times, China is Japan’s best
custoiner. The United States is second in
total trade, largely on account of Japanese
purchases of raw cotton, oil, iron, and auto-
mobiles; prewar sales to America declined
owing to the decrease in silk. Statistics for
the British Empire are complicated by the
inclusion of Hongkong which is merely a
transshipment point for China; otherwise,
Britain ranks third, largely because of
increasing trade with India.

In 1936, Japan stood fifth among all
nations in the value of her foreign trade,
with a total of $1,183 000,000 or $28.10
per capita. The leaders were the United
Kingdom, United States, Germany, and
France.

848

Japan^s World Position

Japan’s great market lies in eastern and American-made consumer goods, but as her
southern Asia, and there too may be found standard of living increases, Japan will be
many of her basic needs. But whether this a better customer.

The expansion of the Japanese Empire began in the seventh century when the Ainus were gradually pushed
northward. Further attempts at expansion since 1937 extend beyond the limits of this map.

trade is to be captured by Japan or China
is a major question. For some decades
Japan's chemicals, machines, and the prod-
ucts of skill will have to come from Europe
and America. At present, the ultimate
consumer in Japan can seldom afford

Expansion by Land and Sea

Japan is insular and her people ambi-
tious. Emigration is unpopular, industry
insecure, and foreign trade unpredictable;
territorial expansion is thus sought as a

249

Expansion hy Land and Sea

panacea. With overseas political control it
is hoped that raw materials and markets
may be assured, but unfortunately little
consideration has been given to inter-
national good will by those in authority.

The earliest expansion within what is now
Japan proper was due to the pressure for
riceland. From the old centers of Satsuma,
Izumo, and Yamato culture in the south-
west, the Japanese pushed back the Ainu
and gradually occupied all of the main
islands.

Modern imperialism started with the
first Sino- Japanese War in 1894-1895,
fought ostensibly to give Korea its inde-
pendence from China. With the treaty of
peace, Japan acquired Formosa but, in
place of securing the Liaotung Peninsula in
southern Manchuria, she yielded to pres-
sure from Russia, Germany, and France and
accepted instead an indemnity from China.
A few years later, Russia built the Chinese
Eastern Railway across Manchuria to
Vladivostok with a branch south to Port
Arthur in the Liaotung Peninsula. Thus
Russia became established in the same area
that Japan had sought previously. This led
to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
from which Japan secured certain economic
concessions, often termed “treaty rights’’
in southern Manchuria. In 1910, Korea was
formally annexed. Throughout the opening
decades of the century, territorial security
was the chief military motive.

During the First World War, Japan
seized German concessions in Shantung
which were not returned to China until the
Washington Conference of 1922. At the end
of the war, Japan was awarded a mandate
over the German islands in the Pacific
north of the equator. With the Russian
Revolution of 1917, Japan and the United
States joined in sending an expedition into
Siberia as far as Lake Baikal. Each country
agreed to send 7,500 soldiers, but Japan
sent 72,500 and withdrew only on strong

diplomatic pressure.^ At the same period she
took over northern Sakhalin, but had to
return it later.

Manchuria became the puppet state of
“Manchoukuo” after the “Mukden inci-
dent” of Sept. 18, 1931, and fighting
spread south of the Great Wall in 1937.
This was the beginning of the Second
World War. The attack on Pearl Harbor of
Dec. 7, 1941, offered still further oppor-
tunities for expansion on the mainland and
to the south. Japanese patriots describe
these continental moves as an altruistic
attempt to rid China of her internal troubles
and bring Japanese enlightenment. In the
face of increasing trade restrictions and
with a sense of heaven-sent mission, Japan
has sought an adequate empire from which
she might challenge the West. These are
continuing goals which temporary defeat
will not eliminate. They are as basic as the
quest of the Russian bear for warm-water
ports.

Japanese imperialists have had two
territorial goals. One group, led by the
army, has favored expansion on the conti-
nent; the other, dominated by the navy,
has pointed to the South Seas. China
offers a market and certain raw materials.
Action in the northwest also provides a
buffer against the Soviet Union and its
ideology. One of the reasons for acquiring
Korea was to secure protection against
Russia; to render Korea secure, Man-
churia was desirable, and in turn Mon-
golia; eastern Siberia would similarly be a
safeguard; hence the appetite grows with
the eating. So far as colonization is con-
cerned, assuming that the Japanese can be
persuaded to migrate at all, Manchuria is
too cold and China too full already. Pro-
grams of conquest relate to military
strategy and trade rather than settlement.

^ Douglas, Henry H., A Bit of American History
— Successful Embargo Against Japan in 1918,
Amerasia (1940), IV, 458-260.

250

Japan s JVorld Position

The South Seas refer vaguely to the
Philippines, the Netherlands Indies, Ma-
laya, Thailand, and French Indo-Ghina.
Here are important resources of iron ore
and many other minerals, petroleum,
rubber, lumber, rice, vegetable oils and
fibers, and potentially of cotton. The
markets are large, and of equal significance
there is room for colonization in warm rice-
growing lands. Southward expansion was
blocked, for most areas were colonies of
Europe or the United States, and not until
Europe was involved in war did Japan ven-
ture to attack.

All of this is part of a geopolitical
Greater East Asia program, by which Japan
would like to obtain military security and
economic self-sufficiency. Unlike the Mon-
roe Doctrine, Japanese plans did not call for
internal independence of the satellite
countries concerned, nor for an open-door
trade policy. Can Japan succeed? It is one
thing to secure advantages while the rest of
the world is upset; it is another to hold and
exploit them during times of peace. It
may well be that all of Japan’s legitimate
objectives can be more economically satis-
fied by normal trade relations. And it is
obvious that imperialism is not welcomed
by countries that are conquered.

Much has been said about Manchuria as
Japan’s “life line,” but trade statistics fail
to bear out the assertion. It may even be
that so much ill will has been created in
China that Manchuria will prove to be a
millstone rather than a life line. Attempts
at agricultural colonization by the Japanese
have repeatedly failed ; mining is expanding
but most of the coal and iron ore are con-
sumed locally; the market for goods is
considerable but requires large capital ex-
penditures which may never yield a profit.
Manchuria’s place in the larger Japanese
economy before 1941 was still a minor one;
during the war, however, a great expansion

of heavy defense industry took place on the
mainland.

Japan seeks more adequate “living
room.” Just how large a place in the sun is
she entitled to ? Do her location and
resources and abilities entitle her to leader-
ship in eastern Asia? National greatness is
sometimes measured in size or wealth or
statistics, hence bigness is assumed to be an
asset, but the quality of individual life is
more significant.

Japan is geographically well endowed to
be an important second-class power, but
not more. Her island position, like that of
England, gives her advantages of accessi-
bility and maritime interests, but unlike
England she is poor in the things that made
England industrial: coal, iron, tin, and a
head start in world markets. On the other
hand, Japan’s empire is compact and com-
mands the western Pacific in a way that
makes overseas invasion by Europe or
America very difficult. Economic strength
is quite another matter. Japan’s future
is assured if she is willing to pattern
her life in terms of her notable cultural
achievements and geographic environ-
ment, but only misfortune can accompany
overexpansion .

Relations with the United States

The Pacific is a wide ocean and the
relations between its margins are still
immature. Commerce has grown, but cul-
tural understanding lags. Political and
military rivalries present still other prob-
lems. No community similar to that around
the Atlantic has yet fully developed, but as
contacts increase so must understanding.

American political interests in the west-
ern Pacific have involved the Philippines,
the Open-door Policy in China, and the
general problem of world peace. The
Open-door Policy was announced in a
series of notes in 1899 which emphasized
that no country should obtain exclusive

Relations with the United States

251

rights in Chinese territory, and was ex-
panded in 1922 when the Nine-power
Treaty pledged to China full liberty in
working out her internal development.

In addition to political geostrategy,
economic considerations are significant.
Without relative freedom of commerce,
neither Japan nor the United States can
carry on a satisfactory internal economy.
Pacific relations are especially important to
America because of the many strategic
materials that Asia alone can supply.

In the absence of world-wide collective
security, it is desirable for the United
States to maintain a balance of power, and
China is our traditional ally. One of the
ways to check an aggressive Japan is to
ensure a strong China.

The United States has benefited greatly
through Japanese trade. Annual sales by
the United States have often been double
the imports from Japan so that the financial
balance is favorable to America. Japan is
one of America’s largest buyers of raw
cotton, and there are important sales of
petroleum, steel, automobiles, and indus-
trial machinery. These are all indispensable
to Japan, although poorer qualities of
cotton and gasoline are available elsewhere.
Among minor purchases are copper, chem-
icals, wood and pulp, tobacco, hides,
phosphate rock, and paint.

Japanese exports to the United States
are dominated by raw silk, which accounts
for half the total. Other items have small
totals; they include pottery, vegetable oils,
toys, rags, floor coverings, cotton cloth,
and canned sea food. If the United States
wishes to enlarge its trade to Japan, it is
obvious that it should buy more in return.
Japanese- American commerce should grow
in significance, both as to actual volume and
in ratio to other areas, for commercial
possibilities are supplementary rather than
conflicting.

Postwar relations with the United States

call for unusual consideration on the part
of America since Japan is an especially
sensitive nation. The peace must be just
and provide for the recovery of face. There
will always be a Japan, and she will con-
tinue to be America’s neighbor across the
Pacific. Two essentials are called for, the
removal of Japan’s offensive power through
the loss of outlying territories and recog-
nition of her legitimate economic and
psychological needs.

American interests in the Aleutians will
be more secure and the Soviet Union will
have the freer access to the open Pacific
which she deserves if the Kuriles and
Karafuto are returned to the U.S.S.R.
Korea unquestionably deserves her inde-
pendence although she may need the
political protection of the new China.
Manchuria is of course the first item in
China’s legitimate claims, followed by
Formosa and the Liuchiu Islands. Japan’s
possession of the Mandated Islands near
the equator enabled her to attack Pearl
Harbor, so that their status will surely be
changed to an American, Philippine, or
International Mandate.

Japan proper will suffer but minor eco-
nomic hardship through the loss of these
islands, though the relations with Korea
and Manchuria are more intimate. The
total Japanese population in the territories
is small and trade may still be carried on.
Japan will continue to be an important
nation, but her offensive power must be
taken away.

In return, the United States and the
world should by treaty guarantee to Japan
that she will have the same access to raw
materials and to markets enjoyed by other
powers, without discrimination or excessive
tariffs. This will make possible all the
international trade that Japan' can properly
earn. Furthermore, the Japanese must be
fully received into world society as indi-
viduals through the removal of racial laws

252

Japan^s World Position

that reflect on their standing. Without such
concessions and mutual understanding,
Japan will assuredly again attempt to seek
an empire by military means.

The Japanese Outlook on Life

Japan’s place in the world cannot be
understood without an appreciation of her
history and ideology. During the centuries
when she shut herself from intercourse with
the outside world, even from China, it was
but natural that there should have devel-
oped an attitude of superiority. Knowing
no outside power, Japan regarded her
culture as the most desirable. When
Western civilization suddenly broke in
during the nineteenth century, the Japanese
were keenly disappointed that Europe did
not grant equality to the arts and achieve-
ments of the Orient. What had been a
feeling of superiority was suddenly changed
to one of inferiority. Only when the
Japanese had demonstrated competence
in the Western art of war in 1904-1905 did
the country begin to receive recognition.
The Anglo- Japanese alliance was another
acknowledgment of her importance by the
West.

Underlying much of Japan’s foreign
program is this desire for cultural respect
and political equality. Japan wants desper-
ately to be understood, to acquire face
through appreciation by the West. If she
cannot receive this recognition from the
United States or another of the great

powers, a resentment of everything western
follows.

When the first Japanese went overseas,
there was a tendency for commercial
representatives and naval officers to visit
England. Army men went to Germany,
while thousands of students came to the
United States. These early relations have
continued, and there are now many influ-
ential Japanese who once studied in
American universities. No country enjoys
a larger measure of basic good will and
admiration, although momentary differ-
ences may reverse the picture. Japan’s own
culture is secure, but many ideas from her
neighbor across the Pacific find their way
into life and thought.

The most distinctive aspect of Japanese
politics is the unique place of the Emperor.
Other nations have autocratic rulers, but
in Japan the Emperor is a direct de-
scendant of the Sun Godciess and hence is
an object of worship himself. Coupled with
the loyalty given to a divine ruler are the
messianic aspects of Shintoism. Many
Japanese feel that they have a commission
to bring their way of life to the rest of the
world.

No one can understand Japanese geo-
graphic imperialism without an appreci-
ation of this cultural and spiritual urge
which lies behind it. Expansion in Asia is
not merely a search for food, livelihood,
and security. Behind the lure of empire is
the goal of what to the Japanese appears a
better society.

Chapter 15

THE SOVIET REALM

Significance and Location

Within the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics lies one-sixth of the land on
earth. From the Baltic to the Pacific,
the country spreads across 160° of longi-
tude, nearly halfway around the globe.
But mere size, even though it exceeds
eight million square miles, is not a country’s
most striking geographic characteristic.
The human drama is always more challeng-
ing than material aspects. Whether one
is sympathetic or opposed to Soviet
ideology, the U.S.S.R. is a development
of unquestionable interest, among the
most challenging in our time.

Geography deals with the environment
and resources that give character to the
Soviet landscape, but it must also objec-
tively consider the social, economic, and
political developments that characterize
this part of Eurasia. Where controversial
issues are involved, these chapters should
enable one to bring his prejudices up to
date.^

1 The Soviet Union has been neglected by writers
on both European and Asiatic geography. The re-
gional sections of four standard volumes on the
geography of Europe devote space to the U.S.S.R.
as follows: (a) 22 out of 317 pp.; (6) 32 out of 520 pp.;
(c) 41 out of 390 pp.; and (d) 122 out of 778 pp. The
consideration given the country in textbooks on the
geography of Asia is even more scanty. Thus in
the regional portion of three leading volumes, the
U.S.S.R. receives space as follows: (c) 39 out of 620
pp.; (/) 31 out of 530 pp.; and {g) 49 out of 560 pp. No
one would contend that countries should receive con-
sideration in proportion to their area or even to their
population, but it seems clear that the geographic
treatment of Eurasia has lacked balance.

The key word in Soviet geography is
continentality. Within the Union is room
for all of the United States, Alaska,
Canada, and Mexico. From Leningrad to
Vladivostok is as far as from San Francisco
to London — nine and a half days by the
Trans-Siberian Express. There are con-
tinental extremes in temperature, rain-
fall, natural vegetation, usability, and
accessibility.

Too much of the land is too cold,
or too dry, or too wet, or too infertile, or
too mountainous, or too inaccessible, or
too something else. Good agricultural
land covers no more than a million square
miles, largely within a narrow triangle or
wedge bounded in the west by Leningrad
and the Black Sea and tapering eastward
toward Lake Baikal. Elsewhere there
may be the attraction of minerals or timber
or local oases, but climatic barriers have
restricted normal settlement over vast
areas.

Although landlocked continentality is
obvious, the Soviet Union at the same time
has the longest coast line of any country,
and the most useless. Frozen seas bar
access for most of the year. Even the
rivers flow in the wrong direction. The
Volga ends in the isolated Caspian, and
the Ob, Yenisei, and Lena point to the
Arctic Ocean. Even the Amur bends
north before joining the Pacific. The Don
and the Dnieper enter the Black Sea
but it too is enclosed. Nowhere does the
country border an open ice-free ocean
except at Murmansk in the extreme north-
west. How different might have been the

254

The Soviet Realm

country’s history and economics if her
continental position had been modified by
easy access to the ocean!

The challenging pioneer spirit of the Soviet Union
is typified by the statue atop the Soviet Pavilion at
the Paris Exposition in 1937.

Russian geographers have long lamented
this frozen sea. The czarist regime made
feeble efforts to navigate the Arctic, but
the Soviets are actively developing the
Northern Sea Route. Scores of steamers
call at Siberian ports during the brief
summer period of open water, and a few
dozen make the complete transit from
Murmansk to Vladivostok, aided by ice-
breakers and scouting planes. If Arctic
navigation proves dependable in linking
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the
Union, it may compare in significance
with the Panama Canal for the United
States.

Like the United States, the U.S.S.R.
faces two ways and has interests in both
Europe and Asia. America’s neighbors are
across the seas, while those of the Soviet
Union, on all frontiers except the west,
lie across deserts and mountains. The
country is influenced by its position in
an isolated part of Asia and the climat-
ically least desirable portion of Europe,
remote from the Atlantic. This position
would be a disadvantage were not the
Union’s economy largely self-sufficient be-
cause of the abundant resources within
the country.

Custom has divided Russia into Euro-
pean and Asiatic sections, but this tradition
has little geographic validity. Various
maps disagree as to the continental limits
and do not even consistently follow the
crest of the ’ Urals. These mountains are
no more of a continental barrier than
the Appalachians. No political boundary
has followed the Urals for centuries;
neither do they mark any conspicuous
change in climate, crops, nationalities,
or economic activities. Ancient Greek
geographers drew their dividing line at the
Don River, and properly, since for cen-
turies Asiatic nomads roamed across the
plains northwest of the Caspian. In some
instances it may be convenient to separate
the eastern and western parts of the Union,
but any use of the terms Europe or Asia
in this connection is apt to be misleading.
What we conventionally mean by European
culture lies in the peninsular areas of
western Eurasia, not in the vast plains of
the Volga. The Soviet Union is a single geo-
graphic realm; in culture she is knit to
Europe, but by nature she stands between
two worlds, the Orient and the Occident.

The factors that give the Soviet Union
its geographic coherence are its great
expanse of level land; its isolation by
oceans, deserts, and mountains; the pioneer-
ing achievements in agriculture and indus-

- • £7

try which are transforming the landscape; Middle Asia, conditions resemble Nebraska
and its unique political structure. These and Utah. The exceptions are the cotton
all make it a phenomenon as well as a and fig country of the southern oases.

The statue of Peter the Great and the Admiralty Building on the bank of the Neva at Leningrad. (Sovfoto.)

place. This unity is offset by the diversity
of nationalities, by the wide contrasts in
climate and usability, and by the difficulty
of communications. Such diversity is im-
plicit in the fact that this is the most
continental of all countries, compact yet
diffuse. No one could expect that Russia
would have duplicated the history of a
maritime power such as Britain.

It is well to remember that the geography
of much of the U.S.S.R. is more easily
comparable with that of Canada than with
the United States. Climatic conditions
place severe limitations on agricultural
possibilities in each continent. Almost all
of the Soviet Union lies north of the
United States, for the Black and Caspian
Seas are in the latitude of the Great Lakes.
Fortunately no Rocky Mountains keep
out moderating Atlantic influences. Where
the Union extends farthest south in

the citrus and tea east of the Black Sea,
and the rice of the Pacific Maritime
Province.

History

The beginnings of Russia as a political
unit go back to a series of independent
Slavic principalities in the ninth century,
united by adventuresome Varangian princes
from Sweden. Conflicts between these
principalities were interrupted by the
Mongol invasions from 1238 to 1462,
when the Golden Horde established its
capital on the lower Volga.

With the Czardom of Muscovy under
Ivan III (1462-1505) came a succession
of autocratic rulers who enlarged the
territory to its present limits. Notable
among them was Ivan the Terrible (1533-
1584), who pushed back the Tatars
through Cossack colonists and pressed

256

The Soviet Realm

westward into Lithuania and Poland, cow in 1812. Alexander II (1855-1881)
Under subsequent rulers, the Ukraine, instituted extensive reforms, in contrast
or Little Russia, was frequently a battle- to the repressive measures of previous

The Bed Square in Moscow lies next to the walled Kremlin, in front of which is the tomb of Lenin. The Cathedral

of St. Basil is to the left. (Sovfoto.)

ground with Poland. In 1580 the Cossack
bandit Yermak crossed the Urals and
captured the town of Sibir on the Irtysh.
This started the conquest of Siberia which
brought Russia to the Pacific in 1639.
Following Bering’s discovery of Alaska
in 1741, colonists pushed south to within
40 miles of San Francisco in 1812, and
Russia retained a foothold in North
America until the sale of Alaska in 1867.

Peter the Great (1689-1725) was the
unifier of the country. So great was his
contribution to the expansion and western-
ization of Russia that the Soviets have
now accepted him as the first revolutionary
leader. As happened so often in Russia,
this strong ruler was followed by a period
of weakness and war, which continued
until the progressive and expansionist
reign of the German princess Catherine II
(1762-1796). Under Alexander I (1801-
1825) occurred Napoleon’s march on Mos-

czars, but the economic condition of the
peasantry was only slightly improved and
revolutionary propaganda grew through
secret societies until he was assassinated
by terrorists. Then followed a frankly
reactionary period under Alexander III
(1881-1894) and Nicholas II (1894-1917).
Southward expansion was marked by
the conquest of Bessarabia in 1812, the
Caucasus in 1864, and Turkestan in 1881.

Russia did not share in the intellectual
stimulus of the Renaissance, nor was she
influenced by the Reformation.

Revolutionary movements in Russia are
of long standing. In 1825 came the Decem-
brist outbreak. The revolution of 1905 was
premature but resulted in the formation of
a parliamentary Duma. Following the re-
verses of the First World War, victory went
to the Bolshevik party. After a series of
revolutionary governments, the Russian
Soviet Socialist Republic was established

History

on Nov. 7, 1917, under Lenin, followed in
1923 by the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.

Since the days of Peter the Great, Russia
has sought to break her landlocked limita-
tions and reach the open sea. Much of the
country’s subsequent evolution is under-
standable in terms of the quest of the
Russian Bear for warm water. After Peter
gave Russia a “window to Europe” on the
Baltic, there were successive outward
thrusts t,o the Black Sea under Catherine
II, toward the Persian Gulf by Nicholas I
(1825-1855), across Siberia to Vladivostok
under Alexander II, and on to Port Arthur
under Nicholas II. Intrigue in Persia,
Afghanistan, Tibet, Mongolia, and China
proper are parts of the same story. This
expansionist tendency brought Russia into
conflict with Britain in the Crimean War,
and along the northwestern approaches to
India. Completion of the Chinese Eastern
Railway to Vladivostok and Port Arthur
in Manchuria produced the Russo-Japanese
War of 1904-1905.

Free access to the sea is an indispensable
requisite for modern nations, so that the
quest for an ice-free port was an in-
evitable part of Russia’s foreign policy.
This was less true under early Soviet econ-
omy; for the natural wealth of the country
made possible a considerable degree of
socialist self-sufficiency.

Just as Russia has grown externally, so
population has shifted internally. For the
middle of the nineteenth century, Vernad-
sky^ placed the center of population near
Kaluga, 36°E. ; by 1897 it had shifted south-
west to Tambov, 41°E., while today it is
near Saratov on the Volga, 46°E. The
progressive eastward shift reflects the
settlement of Siberia, while the southward
component is due to the growth of popula-

1 Vernadsky, George, The Expansion of Russia,
Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Science,
(1033), XXXI, 891-425.

257

tion in Middle Asia. With the development
of Siberia it should gradually approach the
Urals. The center of area is near Tomsk.

Through the course of Russian history
settlement has pushed into Asia as an
advancing wedge. To the north of the
occupied land lies the great coniferous
forest with acid podsol soils; to the south
is the steppe, fertile but precariously dry.
Each eastward advance of the wedge of
settlement brings a corresponding expan-
sion to the north and to the south. Popula-
tion pressure and pioneering lure combine
to press cultivation eastward, and at the
same time north and south. The northward
course of agriculture has already moved
the frontier into lands of precariously short
growing season, while southward expansion
is at the expense of drought. Both move-
ments involve the hazard of famine. The
southward thrust is more attractive since
there are no forests to be cleared and the
soils are exceptionally fertile; in good years,
rainfall is adequate but, too often, a limited
amount or poor distribution results in
widespread starvation.

Siberia has been Russia’s pioneer east,
just as Anglo-Saxon settlement pressed
westward into the New World. The dates
are comparable since Tomsk was founded
in 1604 and Jamestown in 1607, Siberia
was occupied rapidly but thinly, with
Yakutsk on the Lena dating from 1632,
whereas Hartford was not founded until
1638. On the other hand, the Trans-
Siberian Railway was not completed until
thirty years after the Union Pacific.

Russian explorations in the Pacific are
more extensive .than usually appreciated.
They include not only voyages in the
vicinity of Alaska, but also exploration
along the northern coasts of Japan. In
early days the supplies for colonists in
Russian-occupied America had to be car-
ried across Siberia to Okhotsk. This led
to a round-the-world voyage in 1803-1805

258

The Soviet Realvi

via Cape Horn, which brought the dis-
covery of numerous islands in the mid-
Pacific. Subsequent trips led to extensive
explorations in the central and north
Pacific and included Bellingshausen’s nota-
ble discoveries in the Antarctic.

With the defeat of the Russian navy by
Japan in 1905, her influence almost dis-
appeared from the Pacific. At the same
time, the U.S.S.R. borders the Pacific for
5,000 miles and cannot be ignored in East-
ern Asiatic affairs. Many of the develop-
ments in Siberian railways, industries,
agricultural colonization, and city expan-
sion are designed to strengthen the Soviets’
hold in the east.

Pioneering Economy

When the Soviet Union emerged from
the disorder of the First World War and
the civil war that followed, her industrial
structure was chaotic. Railway equipment
was in disrepair, factories had been de-
stroyed, and mines lay in disuse. Consumer
goods were seriously inadequate. A severe
drought had brought widespread agricul-
tural suffering. Further, the revolutionary
shift from czarism and capitalism to soviet
socialism introduced profound governmen-
tal complications.

In order to rebuild and expand the eco-
nomic structure, the First Five-year Plan
was inaugurated in 1928, followed by two
others. In each there was a series of
objectives as to industrial and agricultural
output, usually involving a doubling of
production within the period. In this
program of reconstruction » heavy industry
came first. New mines must precede the
expansion of steel mills, and the construc-
tion of new locomotives and railway
facilities must precede tractor factories.
Military defense took first precedence.
Consumer goods largely had to wait, even
though desperately lacking. With the

Third Five-year Plan, starting in 1938, it
was possible to shift some of the emphasis
from coal, steel, oil, electricity, and
chemicals to clothing and food.

It is characteristic of soviet totalitarian-
ism that it visualizes Utopian goals. The
leaders propose to create the world’s first
socialized state, and this end appears so
desirable that any means are justifiable.
Where the development of the state is the
goal, individuals must be prepared to
suffer. Only time can demonstrtite the
validity of such a philosophy, but it should
be pointed out that the government leaders
regard themselves as humanitarians. The
spectacular success of the Soviet Union
during the Second World War is evidence
that the five-year programs did succeed.

When the First Five-year Plan was
introduced, the Union was in no position
to rebuild through its own efforts. Ma-
chinery and engineering aid had to be
brought from abroad. Thus steel mills
and automobile plants were built under
technical aid contracts with American,
British, or German companies. Foreign
experts supervised the expansion of mines
and railroads. To finance these basic
essentials, the country’s exportable prod-
ucts were limited to lumber, grain, manga-
nese, and gold.

It is now clear that the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics is one of the richest
countries in the world. Her coal reserves
exceed a trillion and a half tons, second only
to the United States. Petroleum reserves
are more difficult to estimate, but Soviet
geologists credit their country with more
oil than any other. Hydroelectric possi-
bilities are great. Iron ore deposits are huge,
and within the country are manganese,
copper, lead, zinc, gold, platinum, alu-
minum, and even nickel. Commercial
timber covers a million square miles, and
there is four times as much rich chernozem
soil as in the United States. Here is one land

Political Structure

259

where a self-sufficient national economy is
almost feasible.

Socialism is characterized by planning,
and in this geographers play a large role.
State planning bureaus function for thife
U.S.S.R. as a whole and also in the con-
stituent republics. These organizations not
only deal with the development of indus-
tries and transport but allocate raw mate-
rials to factories and manufactured
products to retail outlets. Even the
probable demand for clothing or nails is
mapped out in advance and correlated into
the national scheme.

With pressing needs of many types, the
procedure has been to select a few for
thorough attention and let the others drift.
Thus the Moscow subway is unquestion-
ably the most beautiful in the world, the
Kuznets and Magnitogorsk steel plants
employ the most modern techniques, the
Northern Sea Route Administration has
had unlimited resources, and child welfare
is everywhere favored. The Great Soviet
World Atlas is without a rival.

It is probable that no nation has ever
transformed its economic life so rapidly as
has the U.S.S.R. since 1928. The goal is
nothing short of overtaking and surpassing
all other nations. As a result, millions of
people have been moved from farms into
factories. Illiterate peasants whose mechan-
ical experience was limited to a plow and a
hoe now operate complex machinery.
Thousands of miles of new railways have
been laid down, thousands of new locomo-
tives built, factory cities of 200,000 people
replace tiny villages, and large areas of
virgin steppe have been plowed for the
first time in history.

If continentality is the basic geographic
note, pioneering developments characterize
the economic life. No one can travel across
the country without being impressed by the
material results of the Five-year Plans.
The capacity of the government to achieve

is obvious. The pioneering spirit that typi-
fies all parts of the Union is unique. No-
where else in temperate lands is there so
much good undeveloped farm land. No-
where else is the rural or urban landscape
in such transformation.

All this must be viewed in relative terms
and properly adjusted for the social factor.
In comparison with czarist times, the
changes are stupendous. Yet in comparison
with western Europe, the country still has
a long way to go. Prior to the Second World
War, the Union boasted that within
Europe it had become the second producer
of steel, occupied third place in coal, and
led in oil. This did not mean that there were
as many automobiles on the streets, or that
the trains were adequate or clean, or that
people were dressed as in Berlin or London.

To the outside world, the Soviet Union
has variously appeared as a “big bad wolf”
about to devour the rest of civilization, a
Utopia that may solve all our ills, or an
incomprehensible riddle. In reality it is
none of these, and yet in some measure all.
Climate, soil, and topography impose per-
manent restrictions in some respects, but
in other ways it is evident that the land of
the Soviets has become one of the major
world powers.

Political Structure

The term Russia should be used only
historically or in a very loose sense. Russian
people live in most of the country, but
alongside them are Ukrainians, Georgians,
and other national groups, each in its
separate republic. Where racial minorities
were suppressed under the czar, each cul-
ture is now encouraged.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
is a federation of republics, some of which
also include autonomous republics. The
fundamental basis of political regionaliza-
tion is twofold: economic and racial. On
these bases, sometimes conflicting, the local

260

The Soviet Realm

okrugs (districts), oblasts (regions), rayons
(subdistricts), and autonomous areas are
grouped into larger krais (territories) and
republics, and they in turn into union
republics. One of the latter is very large and
complex, others small and with few sub-
divisions. Boundaries are fluid so that
changes in economic developments may
be quickly reflected in the political
structure.

Prior to the Second World War, there
had come to be 11 union republics as
follows :

Republic

—

Area,

square

miles

Popula-

tion,

1939

1. Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic

6,375,000

109,278,614

2. Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic

171,950

30,960,221

3 . White Russian (Belorus-
sian) Soviet Socialist Re-
public

48,960

5,567,976

4. Georgian (Gruzian) Soviet
Socialist Republic

26,875

3,.542,289

5. Azerbaidzhanian Soviet So-
cialist Republic

33,200|

3,209,727

6 . Armenian Soviet Socialist
Republic

11,580

1,281,599

7 . B^zakh Soviet Socialist
Republic

1,059,700

6,145,937

8. Turkmenian Soviet Social-
ist Republic

171,250

1,253,985

9. Uzbek Soviet Socialist Re-
public

146,000

6,282,446

10. Tadzhik Soviet Socialist
Republic

55,545

1,485,091

11. Kirghiz Soviet Socialist
Republic

75,950

1,459,301

8,176,010

170,467,186

During 1940, territorial changes on the
western frontier resulted in the addition of
five republics :

12. Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic

13. Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

14. Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic

15. Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

16. Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic

At the same time, portions of Poland
allocated to Russia by the Treaty of Brest-
Litovsk, but seized by Poland during the
troubled years of the civil war, were
reoccupied and added to the Ukrainian and
White Russian Republics because of the
nationalities involved. With minor excep-
tions, these newly acquired areas had been
parts of czarist Russia.

The first of these republics, the Russian
S.F.S.R., is by far the largest and most
powerful. Within it are five krais and more
than fifty oblasts, autonomous oblasts,
national okrugs, and autonomous soviet
socialist republics. It occupies three-
quarters of the area and dominates the
political life of the U.S.S.R. This is the only
part of the Union to which the term Russia
might properly be applied.

Moscow, or more correctly Moskva, is
the capital of both the U.S.S.R. and the
R.S.F.S.R. and had a population in 1939 of
4,137,018. It is at the center of the old
industrial area, and the focus of 11 railway
lines. Four hundred miles to the northwest
is the port of Leningrad, with a 1939
population of 3,191,304. Within the Euro-
pean portion of the Russian Soviet Fedef-
ated Socialist Republic are a score of
roughly equal-sized oblasts, each domi-
nated by a city such as Moscow, Gorki,
formerly Nizhni-Novgorod (644,116 in
1939), Rostov-on-Don (510,253 in 1939), or
Stalingrad, (445,476 in 1939). There are
also a dozen autonomous soviet socialist
republics set up because of their non-
Russian population, including the Bashkir,
Daghestan, and Tatar A.S.S.R. East of the
Urals the political units are larger and more
complicated. They include oblasts with
capital cities such as Sverdlovsk (425,544
in 1939), and Novosibirsk (405,589 in
1939) ; large krais such as the Krasnoyarsk
and Far Eastern Krai, and the huge Yakut
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Political Structure

261

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic R.S.F.S.R., the White Russians, and the
includes two large cities, the capital at Little Russians in the Ukraine.

Kiev (846,293 in 1939), and industrial The Caucasus is a region of diverse

The interior of a home on a collective farm near Stalingrad. {Sovfoto.)

Kharkov (833,432 in 1939). There are a nationalities. What was once the Trans-
score of oblasts, reaching into former Caucasian S.S.R. is now divided into three
Polish territory around Lwow. Within the union republics, the Georgian or Gruzian
republic are the great coal and iron areas of S.S.R. with its capital at Tbilisi, formerly
Donets and Krivoi Rog. Tiflis (519,175 in 1939), the Azerbaidzhan-

The White Russia^ S.S.R. occupies an ian S.S.R. with its capital at Baku (809,347
area west of Moscow, extending into in 1939), and the Armenian S.S.R. with the
former eastern Poland. The capital is capital at Erevan, (200,031 in 1939).
Minsk (238,772 in 1939). The name ap- The large area east of the Caspian and
parently results from the characteristic south of Siberia was once known as X^rke-
white clothing formerly worn by the stan, but the name is no longer applicable
peasants. To avoid confusion between the since the Turkmenian Soviet Socialist
political implications of whites and reds. Republic occupies only a small part of the
it is better to use the Russian name of desert. Its capital is Ashkhabad (126,580
Belorussia. In national terms, the eastern in 1939). East of it is the Uzbek S.S.R.
Slavs have long been divided into the Great centered at Tashkent (585,005 in 1939) ;
Russians, characteristically living in the farther on is the Tadzhik S.S.R. whose

262

The Soviet Realm

capital is Stalinabad. The short-grass area
next to Siberia was once known as the
Kirghiz Steppe, but the name is no longer
applicable since the Kirghiz S.S.R. is
located in the southeastern corner of Soviet
Middle Asia, with its capital at Frunze.
Covering the former Kirghiz Steppe is now
the huge Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic,
whose center is Alma-Ata (230,528 in
1939).

Under the constitution of 1936, the
highest governing body is the Supreme
Soviet. One chamber is called the Soviet
of the Union, with one deputy elected
directly from each 300,000 citizens, and the
other is the Soviet of Nationalities, also
elected directly but apportioned among the
various republics and national areas. Each
local area has considerable autonomy in its
internal affairs.

Adjoining the Union are two satellite
countries which have not yet achieved
full socialism but are under the tutelage*
of the U.S.S.R. These are the Mongolian
People’s Republic and Tannu Tuva or
the Tuvinian People’s Republic.

People

The original home of the Slavic peoples
appears to lie northeast of the Carpathians,
from whence they began to migrate during
the first century. The present Bulgars and
Serbs represent a southern group, the
Poles and Czechs a northwestern division,
while the eastern group is divided among
the Great Russians, White Russians, and
Little Russians or Ukrainians. Little is
known of the eastern Slavs until their
unification under the leaders from Rus
in Scandinavia.

But, although the Russians are clearly
of European origin, two centuries of Mongol
domination and the later Siberian expansion
brought in an Asiatic element. The plains of
Russia were a melting pot akin to those of
North America. The genealogical register

of the sixteenth century shows that 17 per
cent of the noble families were of Tatar
and Oriental origin while 25 per cent were
of German and west European extraction.
To speak of the Russians as Asiatics with
a European veneer is surely incorrect; one
cannot “scratch a Russian and find a
Tatar.” Their alphabet is from the Greeks,
but in their mid-continental environment
they have acquired a mixed culture. The
Russians are at the same time the most
eastern of European peoples and the most
western of Asiatic.

No less than 169 ethnic groups are
recognized within the Union, although
only 50 number more than 20,000 repre-
sentatives. Slavs account for three-quarters
of the population, while most of the
remainder are Mongoloid, Persian, or
Turkic divisions. Where formerly these
minorities were subject peoples of the
Russians, there is today a peaceful sym-
biosis. The accompanying table indicates
those nationalities which numbered a
million or more in 1939.

Nationality

Population

Percentage

Great Russians

99,019,929

Ukrainians

28,070,404

White Russians

5,267,431

Uzbeks

4,844,021

Tatars

4,300,336

Kazakhs

3,098,764

Hebrews

3,020,141

Azerbaidzhanians

2,274,805

Georgians

2,248,566

Armenians

2,151,884

Mordvinians

1,451,429

Germans

1,423,534

Chuvash

1,367,930

Tadzhiks

1,228,964

Slavs occupy the bulk of eastern Europe
and have spread across Siberia along
railways and rivers. Turkic peoples are
concentrated in Middle Asia with exten-
sions into the Tatar Republic and Bash-

26S

People

kiria in the Volga Valley, and in Yakutia, have grown enormously. In fact, it is
Mongol peoples live around Lake Baikal, hard to find a center that did not double
and along the lower Volga. In the extreme in the period between the First and Second

This kindergarten in Sverdlovsk, in the Urals, suggests the great attention given to child welfare throughout the

Union.

north and northwest are relic races such
as the Finns and Nentsi, while the north-
east has Paleo-Asiatics and Tungus.

Only three census enumerations have
ever been made. In 1897, the total was
found to be 129,200,200, while in 1926
it was 146,989,460. These figures are not
comparable as to area, for after the Revolu-
tion the country lost 27,000,000 people
in Finland, Poland, and the other frontiers,
and there was great loss of life during the
First World War and the ensuing years.
The 1939 total was 170,467,186. Population
data for the last two returns are given in the
table shown on page 266, with the distribu-
tion between urban and rural inhabitants.

As a result of the five-year plans, cities

World Wars. Moscow and Leningrad are
the two giant cities, but no others exceed
a million. Between the latter figure and
half a million came Kiev, Kharkov, Baku,
Gorki, Odessa, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Rostov-
on-Don, and Dniepropetrovsk. In 1939
the Union had 82 cities in excess of 100,000
population as against 31 in 1926 and 14
in 1897.

This is a nation of young people, most
of them born since the Revolution and
therefore with no memories of czarism.
In 1939, 63 per cent were under 30 years
of age.

The distribution of people is clearly
shown in the accompanying population

364

The Soviet Realm

Feople

268

Environmental Factors in the Soviet Union

structures of Kazakhstan date from the
Permian.

Earthquakes and volcanoes are limited
to the marginal zones. Except for two small
quakes in the central Urals, no epicenters
have ever been recorded outside the limits
of young mountains. The areas of greatest
intensity are the Caucasus, the mountains
of Middle Asia, Lake Baikal, and south-
eastern Kamchatka. Current vulcanism is
restricted to the Caucasus and Kamchatka.

The last chapter in geology is often more
important than the first. During the
Pleistocene, the northwestern quarter of
the Union was glaciated, while the east-
ern third acquired permanently frozen
ground.

At least three continental ice sheets
invaded the area. The earliest stage was
the Mindel, corresponding to the Kansan
in North America. The most widespread
was the Riis, equivalent to the Illinoian,
when a lobe of ice followed the valley of
the Dnieper to latitude 48°N., its southern-
most limit in Europe, as compared with
37°N. in North America. The uplands
south of Moscow blocked this ice and
formed a reentrant, but a second lobe
occupied the Don Valley, limited on the
east by hills along the Volga. Ice crossed
the Urals near latitude 60®N., and the
boundary continued eastward irregularly
to the Yenisei, east of which it swung
sharply to the north and reached the
Arctic Ocean just east of the Taimyr
Peninsula.

Local glaciers spread out from the moun-
tains in the Caucasus, Pamirs, Tien Shan,
Altai-Sayan, Baikal, and Verkhoyansk
areas, but it is certain that there were no
continental ice sheets in eastern Siberia.

The last stage was the Wurm or Wiscon-
sin, but the advance did not reach Moscow,
and the Asiatic portion was limited to the
Ob estuary and the Taimyr Peninsula.
Eurasian ice radiated from three centers.

Scandinavia, Nova Zemlya, and the Taimyr
Peninsula.

These glacial invasions left a record of
morainic deposits, swamps, and deranged
drainage, but the effects were not confined
to the ice limits. Increased precipitation
and decreased evaporation greatly enlarged
the Caspian and Aral seas, so that they
overflowed westward into the Black Sea.
Ice blocked the mouths of the north-flowing
Ob and Yenisei, and a vast lake developed
in southwestern Siberia, which in turn
found its outlet south to the enlarged
Caspian. This proglacial lake exceeded the
size of glacial Lake Agassiz in North
America and was evidently the largest
fresh-water lake ever known. The amazing
flatness of western Siberia is partly due
to the silt deposited by this huge lake.

Much of Siberia now has an average
annual temperature below freezing. Only
the absence of an adequate snowfall pre-
vents continental glaciers today. During
the rigorous climate of glacial times, the
absence of blanketing snow or ice per-
mitted excessive radiation so that the
ground became permanently frozen. Exten-
sive research, spread over 400 localities,
has traced the characteristics of this frozen
ground. In many areas it extends to
depths of 100 feet and reaches a maximum
of 920 feet. The total area underlain by
permanently frozen earth amounts to
3,728,900 square miles. The construction of
buildings and railroads presents special
engineering problems.

Land Form Regions

The major physical divisions of the
Soviet Union are shown in the accompany-
ing table and map, which should be studied
along with the text that follows. The
regions are geomorphic as they present land
forms and structural history. Contour
maps are unavailable for the bulk of the
area, hence many details remain obscure.

Land Form Regioris

269

A. Fenno-Scandian Karelian Hills

Uplands Kola Hills

B. Central European Baltic Glacial Plain

Lowlands Upper Dnieper Plain

Pripet Marshes

C. Central Russian Valdai Hills

Uplands Smolensk- Moscow Hills

Kursk Hills

D. Ukrainian Don Hills

Uplands Donets Hills

Dnieper Hills
Bug Hills
Podolian Hills
Dniester Hills

E. Central Russian Oka-Don Plain

Lowlands Upper Volga Plain

Trans-Volga Plain
Dvina Plain
Pechora Plain

F. Volga Uplands Pre- Volga Hills

Ergeni Hills

G. Black Sea Lower Dnieper Plain

Lowlands Crimean Plain

Kuban- Many ch Plain
//. Ural Uplands Ural Mountains

Mogudjar Hills
Nova Zemlya Hills
Ufa Hills
Timan Hills
Ural Piedmont

I. Caucasian High- Stavropol Foothills

lands (Greater Caucasus Mountains

Mid-Caucasian Valleys
Lesser Caucasus Mountains
Crimean Mountains

J. Turan Lowlands Caspian Depression

list Urt Plateau
Kara Kum Plain
Kizil Kum Plain
Hunger Plain
Balkhash Basin
Turgai Plain

K. Central Asiatic Pamir Ranges

Highlands Fergana Basin

Tien Shan Ranges

L. Kazakh Upland

M. Altai-Sayan Tarbagatai Mountains

Highlands Siberian Altai Mountains

Salair Mountains
Kuznets Basin
Kuznets Alatau Mountains
Minusinsk Basin
Western Sayan Mountains
Eastern Sayan Mountains

N. West Siberian Yamal and Gydan Penin-

Lowland sulas

Ob Glacial Plain
Vasyugan Swamp
Ob Plain
Khatanga Hain

O. Central Siberian Anabar Hills

Uplands Taimyr Peninsula

Tunguska Hills
Yenisei Ridge
Vilui Plain
Aldan Hills
Patom Plateau
Lena Hills

P. Baikal-Stanovoi Baikal Mountains

Highlands Vitim Plateau

Yablonovi Mountains
Olekminsk-Stanovik Moun-
tains

Stanovoi Mountains

Q. Far Eastern Amur Basins

Uplands Northern Amur Hills

Sikhota Alin Mountains
Sakhalin Island

R. Northeastern Verkhoyansk Range

Mountain Yana-Oimekon Lowlands

Complex Cherski Range

Kolyma Lowlands
Okliotsk-Chaun Uplands
Anadyr Mountains
Anadyr Lowlands
Kamchatka-Koryak Ranges

A, The Baltic or the Fenno-Scandian
Upland within the II.S.S.R. is a land of low
hills developed on a pre-Cambrian shield of
great complexity. Glacial erusion has
scoured and smoothed the surface, dis-
rupted drainage, and produced innumerable
lakes. Karelia resembles Finland. The
Kola Peninsula is nearly detached and more
mountainous. Along the eastern and south-
ern margins are a series of depressions
between the crystallines and bordering
sedimentaries, partly due to glacial scour,
represented by the Gulf of Finland and the
White Sea at either ends and Lakes Ladoga
and Onega in the center.

B. The Central European Lowlands
include large areas west of the Soviet
Union, into Germany and France, but

270

Environmental Factors in the Soviet Union

Land Form Regions

271

Rugged mountains are limited to the southern frontiers and the exrtreme east.

272

Environmental Factors in the Soviet Union

within its limits are three separate regions.
The Baltic Plain is the result of glacial
deposition in a region of early Paleozoic
sedimentaries. This region roughly coin-
cides with the limits of Baltic drainage and
the extent of the latest glacial invasion, the
Wurm. It is crossed by a series of reces-
sional moraines. The Upper Dnieper Plain
was also glaciated but is a southward
sloping surface without lakes. The Pripet or
Polesian Marshes spread over western
White Russia into former Poland. The
large extent of uncultivable land is reflected
in the map of population density.

C. The Central Russian Uplands are a
linear region of low hills. In the north the
Valdai Hills are formed by a west-facing
Devonian escarpment. The transverse
Smolensk-Moscow Hills, which die out
just north of Moscow, are in part a morainic
belt. The southern and largest region is
named the Kursk Hills from its principal
city, better known for the presence of
extensive iron ore deposits in the buried
Voronezh crystalline block.

Z). Beneath the Ukrainian Uplands is a
partly exposed pre-Cambrian Shield, but
the topography is related to southward-
dipping sedimentary formations of the late
Paleozoic. These form a series of northwest-
southeast cuestas arranged en Echelon,
Several Ukrainian rivers flow southeast,
parallel to these escarpments, then turn
and cut through them in antecedent val-
leys. Hence reading from the east, the
regions may be termed the Don Hills,
the Donets Hills, famous for their coal, the
Dnieper Hills, and the Bug Hills. Farther
west are the Podolian Hills along the base
of the Carpathains; these also have a north-
facing escarpment overlooking the Pripet
Marshes. Bessarabia might be included
as the Dniester Hills, though the structural
parallel does not hold.

E. The Central Russian Lowlands spread
from the Arctic tundra to the southern

black-soil steppes. The most representative
region is the rolling hill and valley country
south of Moscow drained by the head-
waters of the Oka and- Don. The Upper
Volga Plain is slightly more hilly but still
in its gross aspects a nearly featureless
plain. Russians have long named various
areas with relation to their position as
regards Moscow, as for example the Trans-
Volga Plain on the left bank below the
junction of the Kama. This is a dry steppe
which gradually rises to the Urals. Two
regions of Arctic drainage complete the
division, the Dvina Plain and the Pechora
Plain. Both have a veneer of glacial deposits
and postglacial marine sands. The Pechora
area is underlain by coal and oil.

F. Tlie Volga Uplands comprise the
Pre- Volga Hills along the right bank, in-
cluding the low Jiguli Mountains in the
Samara Bend. The Ergeni Hills form the
southern end of the area.

G. The Black Sea Lowlands include the
Lower Dnieper Plain, extending from the
Dniester to the Sea of Azov, the Crimean
Plain in the northern two-thirds of the
peninsula, and the extensive region be-
tween the Don and the Caucasus drained
by the Kuban and Manych Rivers. This
was once an outlet for the enlarged Caspian
Sea.

H. The Ural Uplands are an old moun-
tain range, largely reduced to rounded hills.
In history, structure, and relief they some-
what resemble the Appalachians. On the
east is an abraded crystalline platform
termed the Ural Piedmont. In the center
are the narrow Ural Mountains proper,
composed of folded geosynclines on either
side of a granite core, deformed at the end
of the Paleozoic. The southern projection
is the Mogudjar Hills, and the northern
extension is found in the islands of Nova
Zemlya. The Timan Hills to the northwest
are a peneplained anticline of late Paleozoic
rocks, bordered by Mesozoic synclines. To

Land Form Regions 273

the west of the Ural Mountains is a broad embraces the area north of the sea, partly
dissected plateau carved in Permian forma- below ocean level, which was covered when
tions, the Ufa Hills. the enlarged Caspian overflowed westward.

The snow-dad summit of Mt. Elbrus, highest mountain in Western Eurasia. (Sorfoto.)

I. The Caucasus presents great topo-
graphic variety, and the division here
suggested is an oversimplification. On the
north the Stavropol Foothills project into
the Kuban -Manych Plain. Next is the main
range of the Greater Caucasus, with rugged
land forms and elevations to 18,468 feet.
South of the mountains are valleys draining
toward the Black and Cai^pian Seas, and
beyond them rise the Lesser Caucasus
Mountains followed by portions of the high
Armenian Plateau. The structure of the
Greater Caucasus is continued in the
mountains of southern Crimea.

J, The Turan or Central Asian Lowland
is mostly desert. The Caspian Depression

East of the Caspian is the Ust Urt Plateau.
Three desert plains lie between and on
either side of the Amu Darya and Syr
Darya. Between the former and the Cas-
pian is the Kara Kum, sometimes roman-
ized’as Qara Qum; between the rivers is
the Kizil Kum or Qizil Qum, and to the
east of the Syr Darya is the Hunger Plain
or Bedpak Dala. The Balkhash Basin
farther east commands the entrances to
China. The Turgai Plain in the north is a
corridor into Siberia and once carried drain-
age from glacial lakes to the north.

K, The Central Asiatic Highlands mark
the structural core of the continent and
extend into Afghanistan, India, and China.

274

Environmental Factors in the Soviet Union

The Pamir region includes numerous other
mountains such as the Alai, Turkestan, and
Gissar. Here are the highest elevations in
the Soviet Union: Mt. Stalin, 24,584 feet,
and Mt. Lenin, 22,377 feet. North of these
ranges is the Fergana Basin in the upper
valley of the Syr Darya. Beyond it is the
western end of the Tien Shan with numer-
ous subregions.

L, The Kazakh Upland is an ancient
mountain range, worn down to rolling hills
and plains so that only the roots of the
mountains remain. Coal and copper are
important. This area has sometimes been
called the Kirghiz Steppe.

M, The southern and eastern borders of
Siberia are fringed with high mountains,
from the Altai to the Verkhoyansk. The
Altai-Sayan Highlands are made up of
numerous structures with a general north-
west-southeast trend. At the western end
are the Tarbagatai Mountains, and next to
them the Siberian Altai which continue
into Mongolia. The Salair and Kuznets
Alatau extend northward on either side of
the Kuznets Basin, famous for its coal.
East of the Kuznets Alatau is the Minu-
sinsk Basin along the upper Yenisei, sur-
rounded on the south side by the Western
Sayan and on the north by the Eastern
Sayan. The latter extends to near Lake
Baikal.

N, The West Siberian Lowland occupies
the vast plain of the Ob and Irtysh, one of
the largest and flattest lands on earth. Two
peninsulas characterize the Arctic portion,
the Yamal and Gy dan. The northern Ob
Plain is veneered with glacial and recent
marine deposits; south of it is the Vasyugan
Swamp. Along the Trans-Siberian Railway
is a dry plain, pitted with innumerable
deflation hollows. It is drained by the
Tobol, Ishim, Irtysh, and Ob Rivers. The
Khatanga Plain is a northeast continuation
of the Lowland. The Lowland extends a
short distance to the east of the Yenisei.

O. The Central Siberian Uplands reach
from the Yenisei to the Lena and are some-
times called Angaraland. The core is the
Anabar Hills, or Shield, north of the
Tunguska Hills, a dissected platform of late
Paleozoic formations with extensive coal
beds and widespread lava flows. The
Taimyr Peninsula projects into the Arctic
beyond the Kbatanga Plain. In the south-
west, the ridge formed by the Yenisei horst
combines with the Eastern Sayan and
Baikal Mountains to enclose the amphi-
theater of Irkutsk, a southern subdivision
of the Tunguska platform. The geomorphic
characteristics of the Lena Valley are less
apparent. A large basin in the center may
be termed the Vilui Plain, and in the south
are the Patom and Aldan plateaus, the
latter a shield. The remainder of the valley
is grouped as the Lena Hills; part of the
region is a plain.

P. The Baikal-Stanovoi Highlands con-
tinue the mountainous relief described in
the Altai-Sayan Highlands. The Baikal
Mountains rise on either side of the graben
that holds the lake. To the east is the Vitim
Plateau, part of the ancient shield of south-
eastern Siberia, and beyond it are the
Yablonovi Mountains. These have a south-
west-northeast trend and extend from the
Mongolian border to the Olekma River.
East of them is an area of low mountains
and basins known as the Olekminsk-
Stanovik Mountains. Much uncertainty has
surrounded the use of the word Stanovoi,
but it is now clear that it embraces a series
of mountains from near the upper end of
Lake Baikal eastward and northward along
the Okhotsk Sea to latitude 60°.

Q. The Far Eastern Uplands include
but one well-defined mountain chain, the
Sikhota Alin, and the remaining geo-
morphology is obscure. A series of basins
along the Amur and its tributaries, notably
the Zeya, Bureya, and Ussuri, form the

Climate

275

chief plains. The island of Sakhalin may be
inpluded.

R» The Northeastern Mountain Com-
plex is adequately characterized by its
title. The line of the Stanovoi is con-
tinued by the curving Verkhoyansk Range
along the right bank of the Lena. Between
it and the high Cherski Range are the
Yana and Oimekon lowlands; air drainage
into these basins makes them the coldest
inhabited places on earth. The Kolyma
Lowlands comprise the swampy Kolyma
Plain in the north, the Alazeya Plateau
on the west, and the Yukagir Plateau on
the south. Farther east and south is a
series of uplands, chief of which is the
Gydan Range bordering the northern
Sea of Okhotsk and continuing through the
Anyui Mountains to the Arctic. The
Anadyr Mountains cover the Chukchee
or Chukotsk Peninsula opposite Alaska,
and the Anadyr Lowlands lie between
the Anadyr and Gydan Mountains and
the Koryak Mountains. The peninsula of
Kamchatka contains volcanoes whose size
and activity parallel those of Java.

Climate

Despite the vast extent of the Soviet
Union, climatic conditions over a large part
of the country have much in common.
The situation is different near the Black
Sea, across the Caspian, and in the Far
East, but elsewhere long winters and low
precipitation dominate.

Millions of square miles are eliminated
from normal settlement because of too
short a growing season or too little rainfall.
Elsewhere, occasional frosts that extend
into the summer or come early in the fall,
the lack of adequate spring rainfall or
ground moisture from melting snow, or
drying winds introduce crop uncertainties
that do not appear in the annual averages.
It has long been a recognized climatic rule
that the lower the annual rainfall, the

greater the variability from year to year;
it appears to be equally true that the
lower the annual temperature, the greater
the variation in the period between spring
and fall frosts. Thus climatic hazards
compress the central fertile triangle on
both north and south.

Only a few areas in the west and in
the higher mountains receive more than
20 inches of rainfall. If it were not for the
low summer temperatures and limited
evaporation, almost none of the country
would be safe for agriculture. Middle
Asia and northeastern Siberia each have
under eight inches, but where the former
is hot and a desert, the other is cold and a
tundra. Fortunately precipitation in the
cultivated areas comes during the summer
when it is most needed, although the
spring rains necessary for planting are
often seriously delayed. Severe famines
have resulted from this cause in the
steppes of the Ukraine, Don, and Volga.
During dry seasons the Emba does not
reach the Caspian Sea, and streams in
Kazakhstan run salty.

Although surrounded by seas, the coun-
try receives surprisingly little marine
benefit. On the south, mountain barriers
and great distances effectively bar any
influence from the Indian Ocean. The
Pacific lies to leeward on the wrong side
of the continent, and mountains limit the
penetration of summer monsoon moisture
to Lake Baikal. For much of the year the
Arctic Ocean is frozen, and the area of
ice-free water as a source for evaporation
is never large. Its low temperatures at
all seasons make it an unimportant source
of moisture or ameliorating warmth. Only
the Atlantic remains, and it lies across
the width of peninsular Europe; yet even
in central Sibei'ia more than three-quarters
of the rain must be of Atlantic origin.
While lowlands are dry, mountains such
as the Sayan are unexpectedly moist.

J&iO

ntnvtfTurrmu^Tuiu r uAjfA/ns 'in irw ouv'i&i u nion

Climaie

9.77

278

Environmental Fcuiors in the Soviet Union

with a yearly precipitation of 47 inches.
Apparently this moisture has come over-
land 4,000 miles from the Atlantic. This
is all the more surprising since the only
low altitude path from the Atlantic lies
through the 000-mile gap between the
Alps and the Scandinavian Highlands.

Changes of latitude and altitude do
not always bring the normal results found
elsewhere. The yearly average at Moscow
is 3°F. lower than Leningrad, though
800 miles to the south, and winters in
the deltas of the Volga and Syr Darya
are colder than the Gulf of Finland.
Likewise, the New Siberian Islands in
the Arctic Ocean are warmer than the
coast of Siberia, which in turn is warmer
than the interior. In the same manner,
the lowest recorded temperatures in the
Yenisei Valley lie near the Mongolian
border instead of at the mouth, 1,300 miles
to the north.

Air drainage in the mountains introduces
further inversions. Intense winter radia-
tion, especially in windless northeastern
Siberia, causes cold air to flow into the
valleys which become colder than sur-
rounding mountains. The extremely low
temperatures at Verkhoyansk and Oimekon
are well known with a January average
of — 59°F. and an extreme minimum of
--90°F. at the former station. Even lower
temperatures have been reported from
Oimekon, where there is an unconfirmed
reading of — 103°F. and the annual
average is apparently lower than at Verk-
hoyansk. These are the coldest towns in
the world.

Winter is the dominant season. The frost-
free period is less than 60 days in the
Siberian Arctic and only 90 to 120 days in
the northern half of Soviet Europe and
central Siberia. In the central European
area and the Ukraine and in southwestern
Siberia, the frost-free time is between 120
and 180 days, and exceeds 200 days only in
Middle Asia. Snowfall is not heavy but.

since thaws are rare in winter, it accumu-
lates and may be blown into formidable
drifts. Throughout Siberia snow lies on the
ground for 160 to 260 days, and in the
European part of the Union it persists for
100 to 200 days except in the Ukraine.

The severity and duration of the winter
season affect man in many ways. Daylight
hours are short. Outdoor farm activities
and general construction are obviously re-
stricted. Blizzards block communications
and cause the loss of unprotected cattle
even as far south as the Ukraine. Fresh
foods are lacking and the winter diet is
characteristically monotonous and deficient
in vitamins.

Seasonal contrasts are intensified toward
the east, and the range from January to
July averages increases from 54°F. at
Moscow to 119®F. at Verkhoyansk. This is
shown in the accompanying table. ^

Station

January tem-
peratures, ®F.

July tem-
peratures, ®F.

Mean

Mini-

mum

Mean

Maxi-

mum

Batumi

Tashkent

-15

109

Leningrad

-35

Moscow

-44

Tomsk

-3

-60

Yakutsk

-46

-84

102

Verkhoyansk

-59

-90

Summers are almost everywhere warm,
with July isotherms extending east and
west. Along the Arctic Coast long hours of
sunshine raise the day and night monthly
average to 50°F.; from Arkhangelsk and
Igarka south to Kiev and Irkutsk, July
temperatures are 60 to 68°F. ; in the steppes
temperatures increase to 75 °F. and exceed
that in the deserts.

January conditions show no east- west
imiformity; instead the isotherms are froni

^ Kendrew, W. G., “ The Climates of the Con-
tinents/ 'Oxford: Clarendon Press (1927), 176.

Natural Vegetation

northwest to southeast. Monthly averages
in Soviet Europe are from 25 to 5°F., while
Siberian stations drop to — 5®F. or even
--40°F. Soviet Middle Asia has averages
of 32 to 14®F.

During winter, great masses of cold air
develop in the vicinity of Lake Baikal
and westward along latitude 50°N., with
a high averaging 30.5 inches. This sta-
tionary center of Subpolar Continental air
is the dominant factor in winter climate,
with outblowing winds over most of Asia.
Winter winds over western Siberia and
Europe, however, tend to blow from the
south and southwest. Summer conditions
are not entirely reversed, for solar insola-
tion moves the center of low pressure to
Mongolia and northwestern India. Summer
circulation is irregular, but in general
there are inblowing winds from the west
and northwest from the Atlantic.

Cyclonic storms introduce variations at
all seasons. Their paths across western
Europe are well known, but less informa-
tion has been available concerning their
movements into Asia. Meteorological sta-
tions are now widespread in Siberia, and
the Soviets issue daily weather maps
of the entire Northern Hemisphere. Ex-
amination of the maps for February, 1936,
shows that eleven highs and seven lows
moved eastward across the Yenisei between
the Mongolian border and the North Pole.
In August, 1936, the same area was crossed
by seven highs and five lows. Although
their intensity is less, this is no fewer than
the number of cyclonic and anticyclonic
storms that “Cross Europe. Siberian weather
is less monotonous than sometimes
regarded.

Natural Vegetation

The major pattern of natural vegetation
is both simple and significant. No other
regional picture is so expressive of land
usability, for natural vegetation sums up
many of the items of temperature, rainfall.

279

surface configuration, drainage, and soils.
In long-settled lands such as China, man
has so changed the landscape that the
original cover of vegetation is gone, but in
undeveloped areas like Siberia it still
dominates.

Most of the Soviet Union is a forest land,
a fifth of that on earth. Many of the trees
are conifers such as pine, spruce, or larch;
and broad-leaved forms are in many places
softwoods like birch and aspen. Oak and
other hardwood forests were never exten-
sive and are now largely cut over. Most
furniture is perforce made of softwoods.
Pine railroad ties deteriorate within five
years unless treated.

The distribution of vegetation is best
understood if lowland landscapes with
their horizontal zones are distinguished
from vertical zonation in the mountains.
They are accordingly considered first.

The tundra has a severe winter with
frosts even in summer. From north to
south are four subzones, the first of which
is the Arctic tundra with moss and lichens
but without trees or bushes. Second is the
typical bush tundra with dwarf birch and
willow, widespread lichens, and moss.
Next is the south tundra with low fir,
birch, and larch trees along river valleys,
and well-developed sphagnum peat bogs.
The wooded tundra, the fourth subzone,
forms a transition to the true forest.
Patches of tundra are present almost to
the southern limit of the taiga, but in
general the tundra zone lies north of the
Arctic Circle and within 250 miles of the
ocean. The southern limit corresponds
with the July isotherm of 50°F.

Tundra vegetation is exclusively peren-
nial. Many forms spread over the ground
to secure the maximum insolation. Dwarf
growths are typical. Bright flowers and
green grass suddenly come to life during
the long summer days. Remains of trees
in peat bogs more than 100 miles north
of the present wooded tundra suggest a

280

Environmental Factors in the Soviet Union

Natural Vegetation

281

deciduous forest, step^, and desert. Mountainous areas combine these forms according to altitude. The culti-

28*

Environmenlal Factors in the Soviet Union

warmer and drier postglacial climate. Since
frozen subsoil prevents ground-water drain-
age, widespread swamps develop during the

The Angara River below Irkutsk flows through
splendid coniferous forests. {Courtesy Intourist.)

summer and become breeding grounds for
swarms of mosquitoes.

Farther from the ocean is the taiga, a
cool temperate forest, dominantly conif-
erous. Winters are severe, but summer
months have average temperatures be-
tween 50 and 68®F. The usual trees are
pine, fir, larch, and cedar, with subordinate
but locally important areas of birch, aspen,
and alder. There are scattered meadows on
river fiood plains and open watersheds.

East of Lake Baikal, Daurian larch re-
places the Siberian larch which grows to the
west and is especially adapted to growth
above frozen ground. Where the soil is
sandy and the blanket of vegetation is thin,
summer thaw may reach a depth of six to
ten feet. When the forest is burned, birch
and whitewoods precede conifers in order of
natural restoration. Peat bogs and marsh.

widespread in western Siberia and northern
Europe, are rare east of the Yenisei where
relief is greater, the summers have less rain-
fall, and the air is dry. Much of the northern
taiga has no commercial value, but trees
are taller and larger in diameter toward the
south. Large mammals such as elk, reindeer,
bear, and lynx were formerly abundant, but
the chief taiga animals are now rodents like
squirrel, rabbit, and ^ox.

The mixed forest zone of the western
Soviet Union lies in a milder climate where
fir and oak are found together. The warmest
month exceeds 68°F. Along river valleys
such as the Volga, oak extends north to
57°N. The distribution of deciduous trees
is somewhat conformable with the wedge of
p)opulation and cultivated land. Oak forests
spread from Leningrad almost to the Black
Sea and east to the Ural and Kama rivers,
bordering the Ural Mountains. Maple has
about the same distribution; ash covers a
smaller area; linden spreads farther north
and east than oak, while hornbeam is con-
fined to the middle Dnieper Valley. In the
Far East, another mixed forest zone re-
appears in the basin of the Amur with oak,
maple, ash, linden, and elm. Considerable
areas of splendid timber remain. Bright
summer greens and brilliant fall foliage dis-
tinguish these mixed forests from the som-
ber taiga. The fauna includes wild boars,
reindeer, leopard, and Manchurian tigers.

South of the continuous forest lies a
transition zone termed the wooded steppe,
where solid stands of trees alternate with
open grassland. Local factors of soil, relief,
or vegetation history cause islands of steppe
to lie within the mixed forest, and forest
outliers are present within the continuous
steppe to the south. In the European areas,
oak is dominant; in Siberia birch is the
typical tree. In the west, the northern and
southern boundaries are Kiev and Kharkov,
respectively; along the Volga they are
Kazan and Kuibyshev. East of the Urals
the center of the wooded steppe follows the

Large amounts of lur

down the Suna Rive

Petroz

c, in Karelia. {Sovfoto.)

continuous cover of short grass, often
developed on loessial soils. Summers are
dry and warm, with the July average above
68°F.; the yearly rainfall is 12 to 16 inches.
Only near the forest is the grass luxuriant
enough to be termed a meadow, elsewhere
cereal grass and feather grass are typical.
The presence of chernozem soil shows that
the absence of trees is not due to deforesta-
tion by man. Instead, the prolonged dry
period, low summer humidity, and deep
ground-water surface make natural forest
growth unlikely. Shelter-belt planting has
long been practiced in the European steppe,
but the forests do not reproduce them-
selves. ^ In the Rostov oblast alone, these
cover 75,000 acres.

1 Vyssotsky, G. N., Shelterbelts in the Steppes of
Russia, Journal of Forestry y (1935), XXXIII, 781-788.

Mirov, N. T., Two Centuries of Afforestation and
Shelterbelt Planting on the Russian Steppes, Journal
of Forestry y (1935), XXXIII, 971-973.

are Odessa, Rostov, Chkalov, formerly
Orenburg, and Semipalatinsk. These grass-
lands are the traditional home of the Cos-
sacks, especially in the valleys of the Don
and Volga, and were once overrun by the
Mongol hordes. The steppe has so stamped
its personality on the southern third of the
country that one author has facetiously
entitled a volume ‘‘Across Russia, Steppe
by Steppe.”

The semidesert zone is another transition
area. Whereas the steppe has a continuous
cover of grass and in the true desert it is
wholly absent, the semidesert has spotty
vegetation. Rainfall is six to ten inches, and
July temperature averages exceed 75°F.
Characteristic plant forms are wormwood
and cereal grass. Salt marshes are present.

The temperate deserts of the U.S.S.R.
have hot and nearly rainless summers, with
July averages to 85°F., and frosty winters.
Annual evaporation from free water sur-

284

Environmental Factors in the Soviet Union

faces is ten times the precipitation, but vegetation grows throughout the year, and
soil moisture is locally maintained by rivers precipitation makes possible a luxuriant
from the snow-clad Pamirs. The deserts growth of broadleaf trees, with an admix-

The southern coast of the Crimea has a subtropical Mediterranean climate, as shown by the vegetation in this

view near Yalta. {Courtesy Intourist.)

from the Caspian Sea to beyond Lake
Balkhash are underlain by shifting sands
and alkali soils. Vegetation is zoned accord-
ing to rainfall, ground water, and salinity
of the soil. Wormwood or sage is common
in the north. All plants are especially
adapted to reduce transpiration. Thickets
of saxaul bushes have developed locally.
During spring rains, ephemeral grasses and
flowers rapidly come to life. Poplar and
tamarisk grow in some valleys. The mar-
mot is the chief animal, especially adapted
to the desert by summer hibernation.

Subtropical Mediterranean forests are
confined to the eastern and western valleys
of Transcaucasia. Winters are so mild that

ture of conifers. Oak, hornbeam, and beech
are typical at the lower elevations. Alder
thickets are found in marshy areas.

Mountains introduce vertical zones in
addition to the lowland conditions just
described, in some cases with successive
vegetation types from deserts at their base
through meadows, deciduous and then
coniferous forests, and finally to alpine
tundra at the summits. Thus altitude is
reflected by vegetation in replica of lati-
tude. This is especially noticeable in the
Caucasus and Pamirs which are capped by
permanent snow fields.

Mountain grasslands range from alpine
meadows with abundant rainfall on wind-

Soils

285

ward slopes to steppe or semidesert in the
rain shadow. Forests of the Caucasus are
especially rich and varied. In the Altai,
steppe vegetation covers the lower slopes
to around 3,000 feet, above which is a
taiga forest to 6,000 feet, followed by
alpine meadows. The snow line lies at
9,000 feet. In the mountains of north-
eastern Siberia, Daurian larch is dominant,
but east of the Kolyma River mountain
tundra covers much of the highlands.
Drainage and soils differentiate this moun-
tain tundra from the low-level tundra
along the coast.

Soils

Russian soil scientists have led the world
in the classification of soils on the basis of
environmental differences which place their
stamp on the soil. Thus the parent material,
whether stream alluvium, glacial deposits,
or rock weathered in sitUy acquires a
definite profile through the action of
ground water and vegetation.

In areas of abundant rainfall, soluble
minerals are leached and removed in solu-
tion, while in arid regions such minerals
remain in the soil. Where they are present
to excess as in deserts, the soil becomes
alkaline. Grass roots contribute more
organic material to the soil than do the
leaves of trees. Coniferous forests give
rise to more acid soils than deciduous
forests.

Across the Soviet Union, the major soil
types reflect climatic and vegetation zones,
as well as recent geologic history. Tundra
vegetation is associated with tundra soils,
the taiga is roughly coextensive with
podsol soils, mixed forests coincide with
brown forest soils, the steppe area has
produced rich chernozem soils, the semi-
arid lands have chestnut-brown soil, and
the desert corresponds with saline or alka-
line soils.

Tundra soils are unfrozen for so little of
the year, and then have such limited drain-
age, that they seldom develop a mature
profile. Decaying vegetation overlies the
mineral soil and renders it so acid that
cultivated crops can be raised only with
special treatment.

Podsols cover nearly half of the Soviet
Union. The typical profile shows a surface
organic layer derived from coniferous
trees, below it a sandy ash-colored horizon
which gives the podsols their name, then
a dark brownish clay-enriched zone, and
below these the unaltered parent material.
In the north, podsol formation is retarded
by marshes, in the south by deficient
moisture. Despite their acid character these
podsols provide the soil for a third of the
cultivated area.

The most productive soil in the world
is the chernozem, more extensively devel-
oped in the U.S.S.R. than in any other
country. It is a grassland soil, black with
organic matter and high in lime and soluble
plant foods. Some of it is developed on
loess. But the very climatic factors that
make this soil so fertile also make its
agricultural utilization precarious, for rain-
fall is low and erratic. Were the rainfall
heavier, forests, would replace the steppe
and there would be no chernozem soil.
Chernozems occupy half the cultivated
land; so long as the natural sod is not
destroyed, wind erosion is seldom serious
but, once the soil is cultivated, extensive
deflation may take place. Dust-bowl erosion
has long been critical in the Eurasian
steppes.

In dry lands where water plays a dimin-
ished role in soil formation, the parent
material has added importance.

Irrigation may make the dry soils
usable, but care must be taken for ade-
quate subsurface drainage so that excess
water does not evaporate to form a salty
crust, known as an artificial solonchak.

Chapter 17

MINERAL RESOURCES IN THE SOVIET UNION

There are few Soviet achievements of
which Russians are prouder than the
charting of their vast mineral wealth, and
deservedly so. It is now clear that the
Union is one of the richest nations in the
world, and that its coal, oil, iron, gold,
potassium salts, and phosphate are of vast
extent. However, not all their mineral
deposits are of high grade, or are easily
accessible, or lie near the requisite fuel.
Under a socialist or nationalistic regime
it may be feasible to develop minerals with
little regard to costs, but although the
major picture is one of exceptional abun-
dance, overoptimistic conclusions should
not be drawn from a mere tabulation.

Geological studies date from the days
of Peter the Great who established state
mines in the Urals in 1699. With the
development of the five-year plans came
a great increase in field work, especially
with relation to mineral deposits. In 1936,
the Central Institute of Geology and
Prospecting had a staff of 500 geologists
and a budget of $2,300,000. Research has
yielded large dividends, for many new
mineral localities have been discovered and
the boundaries of known deposits enlarged.
During the period between the First and
Second World Wars, the known reserves
of coal increased sevenfold, of petroleum
sevenfold, of zinc tenfold, of lead ninefold,
of iron ore including ferriferous quartzites
one hundred and thirty times, of copper
twenty-eight times. Furthermore, vast
resources of potassium, phosphate, and
aluminum have been newly discovered.^

^Mikhailov, Nicholas, “The Land of the
Soviets,” 22-24.

Power

Coal is the most important source of
power, but in the Soviet Union wood for
fuel comes ahead of petroleum. Even in
1925, many railway locomotives burned
wood. From 1913 to 1937, the place occu-
pied by coal rose from 60 to 70 per cent of
all fuels, wood dropped from 22 to 12 per
cent, petroleum declined from 17 to 12 per
cent, and peat increased from 1 to 6 per cent.

In 1913 when the Twelfth International
Geological Congress collected data on the
coal reserves of the world, Russia was
credited with 230,000,000,000 metric tons.
At the Seventeenth Congress in 1937,
Soviet reserves were placed at 1,654,361,-
000,000 tons, easily second to the United
States. These reserves are distributed
through 83 fields from Moscow to Kam-
chatka, with nine-tenths of the tonnage in
the Asiatic area. Bituminous coal amounts
to 87 per cent.

In the accompanying table, the reserves
are bituminous except as listed, and the
areas where at least some of the coal is of
coking quality are so indicated.

Reserves in
Millions of

Mining Areas Metric Tons

Donets Coal Basin (Upper Carbonif-
erous, anthracite and coking) 88,872

North Slope Caucasus (Jurassic) 4,068

Georgia (Jurassic) 309

South Moscow (Lower Carboniferous,

lignite) 12,400

Pechora (Permian) ±3,000

Western Urals (Lower Carboniferous) . . 4,777

Eastern Urals (Triassic, lignite) 2,872

Karaganda (Lower Carboniferous, cok-
ing) 52,606

286

Power

287

Kuznets (Permian, coking) 450,658

Minusinsk (Permian) 20,612

Chulym-Yenisei (Jurassic, lignite) 43,000

Kansk (Jurassic, lignite) 42J)00

Irkutsk and Transbaikalia (Jurassic) . . . 81,397

Bureya 26,116

Suchan (coking) 42,000

Tunguska (Lower Carboniferous) ± 400,000

Lena (Mesozoic) ±60,000

Total for U.S.S.R 1,654,361

Coal production has steadily increased so
that the Union occupies third place in
Eurasia. Not only has tonnage increased
but its distribution has also changed.

Year

Total

Soviet

output,

tons

Donets area

Kuznets area

Tonnage

Per

Cent

Tonnage

Per

Cent

1913

29,100,000

25,288,000

799,000

1928

35,500,000

27,330,000

2,743,000

1932

64,400,000

46,044,000

7,544,000

1934

93,600,000

61,496,000

11,974,000

1 13

1936

125,967.000

82,000,000

17,300,000

(1937)

1938

132,900,000

(20,000,000

plan)

1940

164,600,000

The Donets Coal Basin, whose name is
often shortened to Donbas, lies north of
the Black Sea and has always been the
country’s leading producer but, despite a
threefold increase since 1913, its proportion
of the national output has declined by a
third, due to the rise of Kuznets and
numerous new fields. The Donets coal fields
have an area of 10,000 square miles, about
three-quarters of which lies within the
Ukrainian S.S.R. There are two thousand
shafts. Nearly half the coal is anthracite,
and there are large amounts of bituminous
coal suitable for metallurgical coke or
chemical uses and gasification. The output
supplies the blast furnaces based on the
Krivoi Rog iron deposits, 200 miles to the
west, as well as most railway and industrial
needs west of the Urals.

Both north and south of Moscow are
lignite areas which ranked third in pro-
duction in 1937, with a yield of 7,750,000
tons. Much of the coal is used in central
heat and power stations. Both here and in
the Donets area, there is some underground
gasification of coal in situ. The air supply
is controlled so that either high calorie gas
may be obtained for boilers, or “process”
gas for synthetic benzine and ammonia.

The newly developed Pechora fields are
near the Arctic Circle just west of the
Urals. Production in the Vorkuta district
supplies coal to Leningrad via a new rail-
way. An annual output of 2,000,000 tons
was planned by 1942. Farther south are
deposits on the eastern and western slopes
of the Urals. The western coals are high
in sulphur and do not make suitable coke
for blast furnaces, but are usable for
locomotives, electrical power, and for re-
ducing sulphide copper ores. The principal
mine is at Kizel, with an output of 3,000,000
tons. Much of the coal on the eastern side is
lignite, such as deposits near Chelyabinsk,
where production increased from 390,000
tons in 1925 to 3,519,000 tons in 1936.
The combined output of the western and
eastern Ural fields was 8,080,000 tons in
1937.

The development of the Kuznets Basin,
sometimes called Kuzbas, has transformed
a mid-Siberian steppe, south of the Trans-
Siberian Railway, into a great industrial
center. Reserves once estimated at 13,000,-
000,000 tons have been increased to 450,-
658,000,000 tons, and the annual capacity
of the 50 operating collieries in 1937 was
17,300,000 tons. The output of the field
is equal to nearly all that of India, or half
of Japan. Great expansion occurred during
the Second World War. With a high calorie
content, combined with low ash and sul-
phur, the coals are the best in the Union.
Anthracite accounts for 54 billion tons of
the total reserve. Much of the output is

*88

Mineral Resources in the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union undoubtedly stands next to the United States as the most highly mineralized nation.
C — coal, O — oil. Minerals are in vertical letters: AI — aluminum, Au — gold, Cr — chromium, Cu — copper, Hg —

Power

289

290

Mineral Resources in the Soviet Union

used in the Ural-Kuznets metallurgical
combine.

Between Kuznets and the Urals lie the
newly surveyed and very important Kara-
ganda coal fields. Their proximity to the
Urals has caused them partly to replace
Kuznets coal in the Magnitogorsk blast
furnaces. The 1937 production reached
8,937,200 tons.

East of Kuznets are a number of partly
developed coal fields. The Minusinsk
Basin, where a few mines operate at
Chernogorsk, lies on the Yenisei south of
the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Chulym-
Yenisei brown coal field extends north of
Krasnoyarsk to the junction of the Angara
and west along the railway to Mariinsk,
but is undeveloped. East of the Yenisei is
the Kansk brown coal area, also along the
railway. West of Irkutsk, 3,000,000 tons
of coal were mined in 1937 at Cheremkhovo,
and the deposits continue east of Lake
Baikal.

Important coal fields are present in the
Amur Valley, especially along its tributary,
the Bureya. Near Vladivostok, coking coal
is mined at Artem, 2,110,000 tons in 1937,
and at Suchan, 590,000 tons.

In the Yenisei and Lena valleys lie
two vast coal regions, largely undeveloped.
Deposits east of the Yenisei, at present
worked only at Norilsk, are called the
Tunguska Coal Field, after the three
tributary Tunguska rivers.* Deposits along
the Lena are worked on a small scale at
Sangar Khai. Sakhalin also produces coal.
Coal is mined along the borders of the
Caucasus and Pamirs.

Not only are Soviet reserves exceedingly
large, they are also well distributed. The
Urals lack proper metallurgical coke, but
new developments at Karaganda will make
it unnecessary to bring fuel from Kuznets.
Moscow, once dependent on Donets coal,
now produces almost enough local lignite.
Leningrad once used British or German coal

but has developed large central plants for
burning near-by peat.

The geology of oil and gas is more com-
plicated than that of coal, so that reserves
can only be generalizations. Soviet produc-
tion has long been a poor second to the
American, but her reserves may approach
or exceed those of the United States. Data
on petroleum resources in the U.S.S.R.
as presented to the Seventeenth Inter-*
national Geological Congress are given in
the accompanying table.

Metric Tons^

Apsheron Peninsula (Baku) 781,300,000

Other areas in Azerbaidzhan 1,771,000,000

Grozny 174,800,000

Maikop and vicinity 156,900,000

Georgia 176,200,000

Daghestan 146,000,000

Emba 1,190,400,000

Bashkiria (Sterlitamak) 365,200,000

Perm-Kama 354,000,000

Other West l^rals and Volga 471,500,000

Sakhalin 339,800,000

Middle Asia 427,100,000

Total for U.S.S.R 6,376,300,000

^ One metric ton of petroleum is equal to 5 to 10 barrels of
42 gallons according to specific gravity,

This vast total may be divided into
various categories of probability, of which
“proved and prospected” amount to 230,-
700,000 tons, and “visible” an additional

652.000. 000 tons. The remainder is little
more than an optimistic geological estimate.
The comparative figure in the United
States for these first two categories is

1.765.000. 000 tons. Intensive geological
and geophysical prospecting has located
new fields and spread production widely
from the prerevolutionary center at Baku.

Production figures are as follows:

Metric Tons
1901 11,000,000

1913 7,627,000

1920 2,915,000

1928 11,625,400

1932 21,413,200

1936 27,337,700 (from 45 operating fields)

Power

291

In contrast to coal, oil deposits are largely pipe line from the Caspian Sea to the Black
in a single zone, from the Caucasus and Sea also continues northwest to the Donets
Caspian Sea north to the central Urals. Basin.

The Volga above Kuibyshev. Preliminary work at the new dam site is shown on the far bank.

Elsewhere, the far eastern island of Sak-
halin is important; oil is produced in the
Pechora Basin; and there is a small output
at Nordvyk along the Siberian Arctic coast,
and in Kamchatka.

Baku in Azerbaidzhan has always been
far in the lead as a producer, and produc-
tion dates from 1869. In 1901 it supplied
half the world’s output. Most of the pro-
duction comes from Pliocene sands on the
Apsheron Peninsula, but there are numer-
ous horizons down to the Lower Cretaceous.
Wells go to a depth of 8,648 feet. Two pipe
lines lead south of the Caucasus to Batumi
on the Black Sea.

The second producing district is along
the northern slopes of the Caucasus at
Grozny and Maikop. Large reserves of
natural gas also occur in these areas. A

Northeast of the Caspian along the
Emba River are at least 300 salt domes.
In 1937 there was a production of 466,000
tons from 20 developed domes. Oil occurs in
formations from the Permian to Paleocene.
A pipe line from the Caspian Sea leads
through the Emba fields northwest to
Orsk and eastward across Siberia, prob-
ably to Omsk.

The oil fields between the Volga and the
southern Urals have been developed since
1928. Reserves here appear to be so exten-
sive that the area is termed a “second
Baku.” Proved fields extend from the
Caspian depression north to the Kama
River.

Sakhalin is the chief producing area
in the Far East. The 1936 yield in the
Okha field amounted to 470,000 tons.

^92

Mineral Resources in the Soviet Union

of which a third was obtained by Japanese
concessionaires.

The third source of power is hydroelec-
tric, and Soviet plans in this field are as
ambitious as elsewhere. Only in the Cau-
casus, Pamirs, Tien Shan, and eastern
Siberia are there swift streams fed by
melting snow. Elsewhere gradients are
gentle and the flow seasonal, but rivers as
large as the Volga and Yenisei make the
potential power impressive.

Estimates of water power based on
stream flow available 50 per cent of the
time amoimt to 280,690,000 kilowatts,
while that available 95 per cent of the time
is 58,000,000 kilowatts. The Lena system
leads in potentialities, followed by the
Yenisei and its tributary the Angara,
the Far East, Soviet Middle Asia, the Ob,
the Volga, the Caucasus, and Kola-Karelia.
Most of these localities are remote from
the present market for electricity.

An extensive program, initiated in 1920
under the direction of Lenin, calls for a
series of coordinated stations on the Volga,
the Dnieper, and in the Caucasus, supple-
mented by steam-operated plants in the
Donets, Moscow, Leningrad, and Ural
areas. Subsequent plans provide for vast
installations on the Yenisei south of
Krasnoyarsk and especially on the Angara
near Lake Baikal. Several projects are
comparable to the Grand Coulee Dam on
the Columbia River.

The largest hydroelectric installation in
Europe, and when built the largest in the
world, was on the Dnieper River where it
cuts through the Ukrainian Uplands at
Zaporozhe. This had an installed capacity
of 900,000 kilowatts when destroyed by
the retreating Russians during the Second
World War. The aggregate hydroelectric
capacity of the Union in 1940 amounted to
2,500,000 kilowatts.

The proposed program is on a truly
gigantic scale. Two dams under construc-

tion near Kuibyshev on the Volga will
each generate over 1,000,000 kilowatts.
On the Angara River, fed by the constant
flow from Lake Baikal, there are eventually
to be eight principal stations with a total
capacity of 9,000,000 kilowatts. Four
stations on the upper Yenisei will produce

4.000. 000 kilowatts. Decades may elapse
before these Siberian developments are
completed, but the presence of near-by
coal and iron makes large-scale industry
possible.

Metals

Iron is the indispensable material for
construction. Reserves of iron ore were
estimated in 1933 at 16,447,000,000 metric
tons, of which actual reserves amounted to

9.238.000. 000 tons. These latter are further
classified as brown limonite ore, 5,484
million; magnetite ore, 2,392 million; and
red hematite ore, 1,571 million tons. De-
posits are grouped in a few localities: the
high-grade Krivoi Rog and inferior Kerch
areas in the Ukraine and Crimea, the prob-
lematical ores of the Kursk magnetic
anomaly, the brown ores south and east of
Moscow, numerous occurrences in the
Urals notably the magnetite at Magni-
togorsk and Nizhni Tagil, newly found
deposits south of the Kuznets Basin and
near Karaganda, undeveloped reserves
along the Angara, and scattered deposits in
the Far East. Large-scale production is
more localized.

Krivoi Rog has long been the leading
center of iron mining, although the Urals
were discovered earlier. The ore is in pre-
Cambrian ferruginous chert and jaspellite,
and is a banded mixture of hematite,
altered martite, and magnetite, concen-
trated by hydrothermal weathering. In
origin and problems it resembles the de-
posits near Lake Superior. The iron per-
centage in the martite averages 63 per cent,
and in the hematite 51 per cent; these two

Metals

^93

make up three-quarters of the deposit.
The magnetite and brown ores both carry
58 per cent iron. In 1937 there were ^
operating mines, one with a capacity of
6,000,000 tons and four others designed
for 2,000,000 tons each. Reserves at Krivoi
Rog aggregate 1,142,000,000 tons.

Ural iron has been known since 1702,
and there are scores of localities. The largest
development is at Magnitogorsk in the
south, where large-scale operations started
in 1931. The annual production is 6,000,000
ton,s of ore. The ore is magnetite and
secondary martite, formed by contact
metamorphism, with a metallic content
from 55 to 66 per cent. The oldest and
second most important center is Nizhni
Tagil. Total Ural reserves are placed at

1.390.607.000 tons, of which a third is
limonite. Magnitogorsk accounts for 450,-
000,000 tons.

South and east of Moscow, notably at
Lipetsk and Tula, are sedimentary brown
hematite ores of lacustrine and lagoon
origin. Reserves total 424,000,000 tons.

Near Kerch at the eastern end of Crimea
are deposits consisting of brown oolitic,
manganiferous, and phosphatic ores of
Pliocene age. Reserves are placed at 2,726,-
000,000 tons, but the metallic content is
only 35 per cent iron.

When the Kuznets coal field was devel-
oped, no near-by iron was known, but since
1930 sizable deposits of magnetite have
been developed in the Gornaya Shoria to
the south. The ore is formed by metasomatic
replacement and is associated with skarn
with an iron content of 45 per cent. Re-
serves in the Gornaya Shoria may reach

292.412.000 tons. Of similar importance are
the ores found near Karaganda during the
Second World War.

East of Lake Baikal ore is mined near
Petrovsk-Zabaikal, and in the Amur Valley
both near the mouth and in the Little
Khingan Mountains.

The preceding deposits are all in produc-
tion. Among undeveloped reserves, the
outstanding is the Kursk magnetic anomaly
between Moscow and Kharkov. Compass
deviations here have been known since
1874, but high-grade hematite and siderite
ores comparable in richness to Krivoi Rog
were discovered only in 1931. Reserves
listed as “actual” and “probable” amount
to 250,000,000 tons, while the total may
reach 6,000,000,000. This would make it
one of the largest ore bodies on earth, but
metallurgical difficulties make development
problematical. Small but important ore
deposits are in process of development on
the Kola Peninsula. Iron is also found in
the Caucasus. In Eastern Siberia, the most
important locality is along the Angara and
Him Rivers, northwest of Lake Baikal,
where reserves are calculated at 420,850,000
tons.

The production of iron ore amounted to

9,300,000 metric tons in 1913; 8,000,000 in
1929; 14,500,000 in 1933; and 26,500,000
tons (estimated) in 1938. Its utilization is
considered in the next chapter.

Manganese is the most essential of all
other ferrometals, since 14 pounds are
required in the manufacture of each ton of
steel. The Soviet Union leads the world
in reserves, which were estimated at 700,-
000,000 tons in 1936, and in production,
which exceeds 4,000,000 tons. The largest
deposit is that of Nikopol in the southern
Ukraine, but the ore at Chiatury in
Georgia is of higher grade, largely mined
for export. Manganese is also mined in the
Urals, in Kazakhstan, and west of Kras-
noyarsk. The Nikopol ore is a Tertiary
laterite type deposit above pre-Cambrian
crystallines, 4 to 12 feet thick and buried
by Quaternary sands.

Copper reserves were greatly enlarged
by exploration during the five-year plans,
but the quality of the ore is poor. Kazakh-
stan has the chief deposits, exceeding those

Mineral Resources in the Soviet Union

of the Urals and the Caucasus. Many of Aluminum was regarded as a deficit
the deposits contain less than two per cent metal in czarist Russia because the known
copper, and their economic workability is bauxite deposits were limited and too poor

Gold dredging in Siberia. Most production is obtained from placer deposits. {Sovfoto.)

questionable. Production in 1930 amounted
to 34,105 metric tons, and in 1936 to 83,000
metric tons, still considerably below the
country’s requirements. The leading mine
is at Kounrad near the north shore of
Lake Balkhash, where there are por-
phyritic deposits with 1.1 per cent copper.
A new smelter has an annual capacity of
100,000 tons of metal. Farther west are the
richer Djezkazgan deposits where the pro-
duction is to be double that of Kounrad.
The Urals were formerly the principal
copper area, with numerous deposits of
varied types, chiefly pyrite. Ore bodies are
found over a distance of 500 miles from the
largest mine at Krasnouralsk in the north
to Orsk in the south.

Lead and zinc reserves represent 11 and
19 per cent of the world totals, respectively.
Important areas are Ordzhonikidze ip
northern Caucasia, Ridder in the Altai
Mountains, Trans-Baikalia, and the Mari-
time Province. Lead production amounted
to 55,000 tons in 1936, and zinc to 63,000
tons.

to work. The metal is now secured from un-
satisfactory ores at Tikhvin east of Lenin-
grad, from large deposits in the northern
Urals at Kabakovsk, formerly Nadezhdinsk,
and in the southern Urals at Kamensk.
Huge nepheline deposits in the Kola Penin-
sula are also worked for aluminum. The
oldest reduction plant is at Volkhov near
Leningrad. Two plants are located near the
Dnieper hydroelectric station, and another
is at Kamensk. A larger plant began opera-
tion in 1939 near Kandalaksha in the Kola
Peninsula. Despite inferior deposits, the
Soviet Union is a major producer, ranking
fourth in 1939 with an output of 60,000
tons and a much larger yield in sight.

Nickel is mined in the central and south-
ern Urals, at Norilsk near the lower
Yenisei, and in the Kola Peninsula. The
output of 3,000 metric tons in 1938 was
barely adequate for domestic needs, but
enabled the Union to rank as a very poor
third in world output, following Canada
and New Caledonia.

Nonmetals

295

Gold has long been known in Siberia
and the Urals, both as placer and lode
deposits.^ No production figures are pub-
lished, but conservative foreign estimates
place the 1939 output at 4,500,000 ounces,
as compared with 5,173,000 ounces in 1936.
Optimistic estimates are nearly double
these figures. The Union holds second place
to the Union of South Africa, closely fol-
lowed by Canada and the United States.
The most important areas are along the
Aldan and Kolyma Rivers in Yakutia.
Other mining centers are scattered through
eastern Siberia, Soviet Middle Asia, the
Urals, and the Caucasus.

Platinum production provides over a
third of the world’s supply, largely from
ultrabasic rocks near Nizhni Tagil in the
Urals, well known for a century. Chromium
is obtained from low-grade ores in the
Urals, with an annual yield in excess of
200,000 metric tons of chromite. This
places the U.S.S.R. in first place, ahead of
Turkey and South Africa.

Tin is found east of Baikal and in
Kazakhstan, but production is negligible.
Tungsten is mined in the same general
area.

Nonmetals

In addition to a wide variety of the usual
nonmetallic minerals, the Soviet Union has
fabulously large deposits of two uncommon
substances: apatite and potassium salts.
Each has been developed with dramatic
rapidity. In both cases resources and pro-
duction lead the world.

Apatite is a source of phosphate, secured
rarely as mineral apatite but most fre-
quently from phosphate limestone rock as
in north Africa. Soviet deposits are located
north of the Arctic Circle in the Khibin

^ See Von Bernewitz, M. W., Russia’s Gold Pro-
duction, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Mineral Trade Notes,
May 20, 1936.

Mountains of the Kola Peninsula, and are
a magmatic segregation from nepheline
syenite. Near by is the new town of
Kirovsk with a population of 50,000. Two
million tons are mined yearly, yielding
1,000,000 tons of purified apatite and
500,000 tons of purified nepheline. Ore
reserves are established at 2,000,000,000
tons. When visited by the International
Geological Congress excursion of 1937, the
mine was regarded as one of the industrial
wonders of the world. The property was
developed in eight years and there were 20
miles of underground galleries, fully elec-
trified. Ordinary freight trains carry out
the ore from the heart of the mountain.
The high-grade fertilizers obtained from
the apatite are of vital importance in Soviet
agricultural expansion. From the nepheline
is produced soda and aluminum.

Potash is secured at Solikamsk on the
western slope of the northern Urals. Salt
had been known for three centuries, but
potassium and magnesium salts and bro-
mine were not found until 1925. The annual
production amounted to 1,800,000 tons in
1937. Reserves of potassium salts are
estimated at 15,000,000,000 tons, and those
of magnesium salts at 18,000,000,000 tons.
In addition there are still larger deposits of
common salt, un worked. Germany has
previously been the world’s leading potash
producer.

Asbestos has been secured from Asbest
in the Urals near Sverdlovsk since 1889.
The fiber occurs in serpentinized peridotite
as in Quebec and Rhodesia. Similar deposits
are present in the Altai-Sayan Mountains.
Ural reserves are estimated at 17,500,000
tons of fiber longer than 0.7 millimeter, and
the production is more than adequate for
all domestic needs. Much of the fiber is
short, but the percentage of long fiber is
reported to be greater than in Canada. The
Union holds second place in world output,
with a yield over 100,000 tons. Talc and

296

Mineral Resources in the Soviet Union

soapstone deposits in the Urals are also
enormous.

Magnesite occurs in large deposits near
Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk. The annual
output of 800,000 tons supplies domestic
needs and provides a large export to west-
ern Europe. Austria occupies second place
in magnesite production.

Industrial salt is available in abundance.
There are deposits at Solikamsk, Emba,
and the Donets Basin.

Gems and semiprecious stones have been
secured from the Urals for centuries, in-
cluding emerald, beryl, amethyst, topaz,
and massive blocks of malachite. Kaolin
production is centered in the Ukraine. Fire
clays are present in the Moscow Coal Basin
and in the Ukraine. Mercury is available in
the Donets Basin and in the Urals.

Summary

Mining is concentrated in a few districts,
near the more densely settled areas or
along the major railways. The Ukraine has
coal, iron, and manganese. The Moscow
area has inferior coal and iron. In the Kola
Peninsula are spectacular deposits of
potash and uncommon minerals. The Urals
are a tremendous storehouse of natural
wealth, perhaps the richest mountain range
of their size on earth. Here are iron, gold,
asbestos, potassium and magnesium salts,
aluminum, chromium, nickel, low-grade

coal, and oil. The Caucasus have oil,
manganese, lead, and zinc. Kazakhstan
contains coal, copper, lead, and zinc. The
Pamirs, Tien Shan, Altai, and Sayan are
all mineralized, with conspicuous coal and
iron in the Kuznets Basin. Eastern Siberia,
still partly unexplored, has coal, gold, iron,
and other minerals. Despite this imposing
list, large areas are entirely without
resources.

The industrial utilization of these re-
sources will be considered in the next
chapter, but a mere listing of resources
discloses the exceptional natural wealth of
this vast area. Intensive geological re-
search has greatly increased the known
reserves, even in long-studied areas. No
other land has so great a variety of min-
erals, and only the United States is richer.

At the same time, it is well to note that
among these many deposits are some low-
grade ores, especially copper and alumi-
num, which have doubtful value if operated
on a basis of strict capitalist accounting.
Moreover, reserves and production need
to be considered in terms of a country
8 million square miles in area inhabited by
170 million people.

The Soviet mining industry is still en-
gaged in catching up with the rest of the
world, but the accelerated developments
just before and during the Second World
War indicate that the lag will not long
persist.

Chapter 18

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SOVIET UNION

The industrial task of the Soviet Union decades must pass before the cumulative
under the five-year plans was to overtake results give the Soviet landscape an appear-
and surpass the capitalist world, especially ance of material abundance resembling
the United States. When one considers western Europe. With the industrial index
the limited development of industry in of 1913 set at 100, that of 1938 was 908.8.
1913 and the fact that post-war production In terms of 1937 output per person,
did not regain this level until 1926, the Soviet pig iron amounted to a third that
audacity of such a goal is obvious. Lenin of Germany or half that of England,
once said that in terms of industry, old The per capita coal production was less
Russia was ‘‘four times worse than Eng- than a quarter that of Germany or one-
land, five times worse than Germany, ten seventh that of England. Cement was but
times worse than America.” Owing to one-fifth the German-English average. Cot-
the relatively self-contained character of ton textile production equaled a quarter
Soviet expansion, it was little retarded by the English output per capita, while paper
the world-wide depression of the early was but one-eighth that of Germany and
1930’s. England.

Any analysis of Soviet economic develop- Czarist Russia was dominantly agri-
ment must first consider the reliability of cultural. Half the manufacturing centered
Soviet statistics. Unfortunately a complete in Moscow and Leningrad, where light
check is out of the question, for the only industries such as textiles were the rule,
figures available are those of the govern- The Ukraine and Urals accounted for a
ment. Actual production figures are often third of the total industrial output. Under
confused with planned production or are the five-year plans, and particularly during
given as percentages of increase without the Second World War, the industrial
stating the actual quantity involved. This center of gravity shifted eastward, almost
use of percentages reaches a humorous to the Urals,
climax in the annual statistics from an
Arctic station where it was reported that iT^dustry

2 per cent of the men had married 50 per Iron and steel were fundamental in the
cent of the women, yet only one marriage five-year plans. The output of pig iron rose
was involved. from 4,200,000 tons in 1913 to 14,900,000

By 1938, the Soviet Union claimed to tons in 1940. Whereas the Ukraine was
hold first place within Europe in total almost the only steel area prior to the First
industrial output. This was undoubtedly World War, expansion in the interwar
true in oil, potash, phosphate, peat, trucks, period added huge plants in the Urals and
and tractors, but not in electrical power, central Siberia.

coal, steel, copper, aluminum, or cement. The southern Ukraine is an ideal produc-
Immense strides have been made, but tion area, for in addition to near-by high-

297

A blast furnace in construction for the Mariupol steel works on the Sea of Azov. This plant utilizes Donets coal

and Kerch iron ore. {Sovfoto.)

should remain the major metallurgical area.
Iron ore from Krivoi Rog is shipped 200
miles east to blast furnaces in the Donets
coal field at Makeevka, Stalino, Ordz-
honikidze, Voroshilovsk, Konstantinovka,
Kramatorsk, and Krasni Sulin. Coal is also
carried west to the ore mines at Krivoi
Rog, as well as to furnaces en route at
Zaporozhe and Dniepropetrovsk. East of
the Donets are steel mills at Stalingrad.
In addition to this east-west movement,
Donets coal is shipped south to Mariupol
on the Sea of Azov where it meets iron ore
from Kerch in eastern Crimea; there are
also blast furnaces at Kerch. The Makeevka
plant alone turned out 1,300,000 tons of
pig iron in 1936. If the ores of the Kursk

South of Moscow pig iron and steel are
produced on a modest scale at Lipetsk
and Tula, and to the east are steel mills
at Kulebaki and Vyksa. Moscow also has a
steel mill without blast furnaces.

No less than 39 localities produce iron or
steel in the Urals. Some of these are old
plants operating on charcoal, but none of
them is comparable in size to new giant
furnaces at Magnitogorsk and Nizhni
Tagil. Coal is supplied from Kuznets and
Karaganda, for the local Kizel coal is high
in sulphur and does not make good coke,
although a passable fuel is obtained by
mixture with Kuznets coke. Chelyabinsk
coal is lignite and suitable only for power.
When built, Magnitogorsk was equipped

299

Heavy Industry

with four furnaces of 1,400 tons capacity,
but a fifth has since been added. In what
was virgin steppe around Magnet Moun-
tain has grown a city of 145,870 people
(1939). Magnitogorsk is said to rank next
to Gary, Ind., as the second largest indi-
vidual steel mill in the world. The extensive
plant at Nizhni Tagil is closely followed by
new works at Sverdlovsk. Other furnaces
are at Chelyabinsk, Khalilovo, and Bakal.
The Urals, with a vastly increased steel
output and abundance of other metals,
stand second to the Ukraine in industrial
importance. The absence of local metal-
lurgical coke is a problem, but the newly
developed Karaganda coal field is only
600 miles distant.

Although the Kuznets coal field lies
1,417 miles east of Magnitogorsk via the
Trans-Siberian Railway, the new direct
line reduces this distance to 1,200 miles.
When the Ural-Kuznets combine was
inaugurated, no nearer coal was known,
and the expense of the rail haul, the longest
in the world, was to be partly offset by
constructing duplicate steel plants at each
end. The furnaces at Stalinsk, formerly
Kuznets, thus have a capacity comparable
to those of Magnitogorsk. When visited by
the author in 1937, the four blast furnaces
were producing a total of 4,000 tons per
day. Near-by iron ore in the Gornaya
Shoria is gradually replacing that from the
Urals, and the lower quality is offset
by the cheaper transportation. The Ural-
Kuznets metallurgical combine supplied
more than a quarter of the nation’s iron in
1936 and was to be expanded to a third by
1942.

East of Lake Baikal is an old iron and
steel works at Petrovsk-Zabaikal. New mills
are in operation at Komsomolsk on the
lower Amur, using Buryea coal and Little
Khingan ore. A steel mill came into opera-
tion at Tashkent in 1942.

Projected iron centers include the Trans-

caucasus and Kola Peninsula. Eventual
possibilities in Siberia involve Minusinsk
coal and near-by Abakan iron ore, and
especially Cheremkhovo coal and Angara-
Ilim iron ore, to be developed along with
Angara water power.

Copper, aluminum, lead, and zinc are
also vital in heavy industry. Geographic
problems of bringing ore and fuel together
are not so difficult in these cases. There has
been a continuous effort to open new
deposits and spread production widely.
Large-scale electrochemical works have
developed around the Dnieper Dam in the
Ukraine, and around smaller sources of
water power in the Kola Peninsula and
Caucasus, with plans for industries in the
Urals and Tien Shan. Another chemical
industry is east of the Caspian Sea on
Kara-Bogaz Gulf, where mirabilite, or so-
dium sulphate, and other chemicals are
extracted from sea water.

Railway equipment is produced in the
Ukraine and Ural areas, especially loco-
motives in a huge plant at Voroshilovgrad,
formerly Lugansk; and rolling stock at
Dnieprodzerzinsk and Nizhni Tagil. The
principal centers of general machine pro-
duction are Moscow, Leningrad, and Khar-
kov, with mining machinery at Krama-
torsk in the Donets area and Sverdlovsk
in the Urals.

There are automobile factories at Mos-
cow, Gorki, and Yaroslavl, and motor-
truck plants at Leningrad, Chelyabinsk,
Kharkov, and Stalingrad. The production
in 1939 amounted to 171,100 trucks and
25,700 passenger cars, a slight decrease
from the preceding year.

Agricultural machinery has received
much emphasis, with tractor plants at
Kharkov, Stalingrad, and Chelyabinsk.
Harvesters and combines are made at
Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, and Kirovo.

Wartime developments brought great
changes in the type and location of Soviet

300

Economic Developments in the Soviet Union

industries. Many factories from the Ger-
man-occupied areas were dismantled and
removed to the Urals, to central Siberia,
and to Soviet Middle Asia. For reasons
of security, and since this eastward trend
is in line with pioneering needs, much
of this migration will be permanent.

The building of river steamers has long
been important, with shops on the Dnieper
at Kiev, on the Volga at Gorki, and else-
where. Ocean-going vessels are built at
Nikolaevsk near Odessa and at Leningrad.

Heavy industry is far more developed
west of the Volga than elsewhere. Len-
ingrad stands in a corner by itself. The
Moscow-Gorki region is very important,
but the Donets-Kharkov-Nikolaevsk re-
gion is dominant. The Urals from Mag-
nitogorsk through Sverdlovsk to Nizhni
Tagil are'a growing area, as are the Cauca-
sus, the Tashkent area, the Kuznets Basin,
and the Far East. But even more than
indicated by population distribution or
cultivated land, the industrial core of the
Soviet Union has been west of longitude
45®E. The growth of outlying areas is
conspicuous and will continue, but so far
as heavy manufacturing was concerned
prior to June 22, 1941, the essential area
was bounded by Rostov-on-Don, Stalin-
grad, Gorki, and Leningrad; in short, west
of the Volga.

Other Industry

Within the wide scope of light industry,
it is only possible to speak of wood prod-
ucts, textiles, food, and new synthetic
products. Lumbering is almost as wide-
spread as the forests themselves. Wherever
a railroad crosses a river flowing out of a
forested area, there are sure to be saw-
mills. There are no large papermaking
centers, but the mills are generally north
of the Volga and Kama, especially near
Gorki and Vologda, or in White Russia.

Cotton textile production is centered
chiefly in the area bounded by Moscow,
Ivanovo, and Yaroslavl. Leningrad and
the Ukraine produce largely for local
consumption. This grouping of mills has
little geographic justification because they
are remote from the cotton fields of
Soviet Middle Asia, and the market is
more widely spread. New mills have been
built in Middle Asia and the Caucasus.

Linen weaving is also concentrated
east of Moscow, although in separate
towns from those devoted to cotton
spinning. Production increased but slightly
between 1913 and 1935.

Food industries gained fourfold from
1913 to 1935. Meat packing in the steppe
follows the agricultural margin, with im-
portant centers at Saratov on the Volga,
and in central Siberia at Kurgan, Petro-
pavlovsk, Novosibirsk, Barnaul, and Semi-
palatinsk. Siberian butter was exported
to England extensively before the First
World War.

Sugar, refined from sugar beets, is a
significant Ukrainian industry southwest
of Kiev and northwest of Kharkov. The
Caucasus are noted for wine and canned
fruits. Flour production conforms to the
wheat areas; in the Ukraine and western
Siberia along the railway.

Fishing is most important around As-
trakhan, where sturgeon and caviar are
dominant. Rostov and the Sea of Azov
occupy second place, followed by Mur-
mansk, Vladivostok, and Kamchatka.

One of the few essentials not originally
available in the U.S.S.R. was natural
rubber. Although Hevea hraziliensis cannot
be grown, desert plants such as native
kok-zaghiz or the Mexican guayule are
cultivated from the Tien Shan west to
White Russia. Artificial rubber is obtained
from potatoes in plants at Yaroslavl
and Kazan, from limestone at Erevan
in Armenia, and from petroleum at Baku.

Transport 301

In Vol. I of the Great Soviet World
Atlas significant maps compare the
industry of 1913 with that of 1935 (Plates
147-152). Both in geographic extent and
in quantity, the contrasts are enormous.
Siberia developed, but manufacturing in
the European areas expanded even more.
The industrial production for 1935 is
shown below:

Cities with production from 7 to 10,000 million rubles:

Moscow — machine construction, textiles, food,
chemicals.

Leningrad — machine construction, chemicals, shoes
and clothing, textiles.

Cities with production from 1 to 2,000 million rubles:

Gorki — machine construction, food.

Kliarkov — machine construction, food, shoes, and
clothing.

Baku — oil, food, machine construction.

Cities with production from 500 to 1,000 million
rubles:

Odessa — machine construction, food, shoes, and
clothing.

Kiev — machine construction, food, shoes, and
clothing.

Dniepropetrovsk — iron and steel, machine con-
struction, chemicals, food.

Rostov-on-Don — machine construction, food, shoes,
and clothing.

Stalingrad — machine construction, iron and steel,
food, wood industries.

Yaroslavl — chemicals, machine construction, tex-
tiles, food.

Cities with production from 250 to 500 million rubles:

Tbilisi — food, machine construction, shoes and
clothing, textiles.

Grozny — oil.

Mariupol — iron and steel, machine construction.

Taganrog — machine construction, iron and steel.

Stalino — iron and steel, food, machine construction.

Zaporozhe — iron and steel, machine construction.

Dnieprodzerzinsk — iron and steel, machine con-
struction, chemicals.

Voronezh — machine construction, food, chemicals.

Tula — machine construction, iron and steel.

Kalinin — textiles, machine construction, shoes, and
clothing.

Saratov — machine construction, food.

Kazan — shoes and clothing, food.

Ivanovo — textiles.

Magnitogorsk — iron and steel, ore, chemicals.

Chelyabinsk — machine construction, food.

Sverdlovsk — machine construction, food, iron and
steel.

All cities with an industrial production
in excess of 250 million rubles in 1935
lie in the European area. In Siberia there
are 5 cities whose rank is between 100 to
250 million: Omsk, Novosibirsk, Stalinsk,
Irkutsk, and Vladivostok, and one in
Central Asia, Tashkent. Cities of the
same industrial output in the European
area total 36. In the U.S.S.R. as a whole,
69 centers had an industrial output
exceeding 100 million rubles in 1935.
The corresponding total in 1913, with
prices measured in 1926 to 1927 rubles,
numbered but 5: Moscow, Leningrad,
Baku, Ivanovo, and Odessa.

Transport

The transportation facilities of various
areas differ widely. In the southwest
there are closely spaced railways, while
in the northeast, except for air transport,
travel is restricted to widely spaced
rivers or winter sled roads. Express trains
on the Trans-Siberian cross the continent
from Leningrad to Vladivostok in nine
and a half days, or one may travel from
Odessa on the Black Sea to Murmansk
on the Arctic Ocean in three and a half
days. But to traverse Siberia from Mon-
golia northward along the Yenisei requires
more than two weeks by boat. Here again,
continentality is inescapable.

Railways totaled 52,700 miles in 1938,
as compared with 36,350 miles in 1913
excluding the areas lost during the First
World War. This mileage, although but a
quarter that of the United States, holds
second place in the world. Freight turnover
in the Soviet Union increased from 41
billion metric ton miles in 1913 to 370
billion in 1939. In the latter year, 1,626
locomotives and 49,100 railway cars were
built. Soviet railways have a gauge of
5 feet in contrast to the standard gauge

S04 Economic Developments in the Soviet Union

of 4 feet 83^ inches in western Europe around suburban Moscow and Leningrad,
and North America. Most freight cars in the Urals and Caucasus, and within the
have four axles as in the United States, Kuznets Basin.

The great expansion of railroad mileage across the plains of the Soviet Union has led to specialized track-laying
machines which lay down and advance over complete sections of rails and ties. (Sovfoto.)

rather than the two-axle type used in The utilization of waterways preceded

western Europe. railway construction and has expanded

The distribution of railways is shown on but slowly in recent years. Operating water-
the accompanying map. The densest net- ways in 1939 totaled 56,170 miles.^ The
work is in the Donets Coal Basin, with the freight carried in 1938 was about 23 billion
heaviest traffic moving between there and metric ton-miles, or one-sixteenth that of
Kharkov. All the Union west of the Volga the railways. In 1913 the ratio was nearer
and south of Leningrad lies within 35 one to three. Timber in rafts or barges
miles of a railway. The only other area accounts for over half the total, and
with closely spaced lines is the central minerals and construction materials each
Urals. A coarse grid is developing south represent an eighth. Grain and coal are
of the Trans-Siberian. The Union’s isola- also important commodities,
tion is shown by the limited railway The Volga is the leading inland water-

facilities across the borders. East of the way, and its freight accounts for half the
Black Sea, but five railways cross the total. Its closest competitor is the combined
long frontier: into Turkey, Iran, Mongolia, Neva and Svir which link Lakes Ladoga
and two lines to Manchuria. and Onega with Leningrad. The Ob,

There are nearly 2,000 miles of electrified . Waterway News, U.S. Bureau of

railways, operating in the Kola Peninsula, Foreign and Domestic Commerce, November, 19S9.

The steamer Kazakstan in the port of Murmansk. This is one of the vessels used on the Northern Sea Route

through the Arctic. {Sovfoto.)

the backward character and sparse popula- the water supply and making it possible for
tion of their drainage areas. barges drawing feet to reach Moscow

The Volga’s direction, depth, and eco- from the Caspian,
nomic hinterland make it the country’s The Baltic- White Sea Canal links the
premier waterway. Baku oil and Donets Gulf of Finland with the White Sea via
coal move upstream, while wood floats Lake Onega and is open to vessels of
down-current. Unfortunately the Volga 1,250 tons.

empties into the landlocked Caspian. There Seagoing ships operate extensively in the
have long been plans to build a canal from Caspian and Black seas, and to a lesser
Stalingrad to the Don, in order that barges extent in the Baltic, Arctic, and Far East,
and small seagoing steamers might link Freight services link Odessa and Vladivos-
the Caspian with the Black Sea. In the tok via Suez or Panama. This distance of
delta below Astrakhan are sand bars that 13,264 miles via Suez or 14,177 via Panama
make transshipment necessary. The head- is reduced to 6,835 miles via the Northern
waters of the Volga system are connected Sea Route from Murmansk to Vladivostok,
with Lake Ladoga through the Mariinsk The ton mileage of ocean-bome freight in
Canal, completed in 1808, and frequently 1938 was slightly larger than that carried
enlarged. Moscow lies on a small tributary on the rivers.

of the Volga, formerly too shallow for Highways have ilever received much
navigation and inadequate for the munici- attention. Out of a total distance of 840,000
pal water supply. The Moscow-Volga Canal, miles in 1938, only 60,000 were surfaced

306 Economic Developments in the Soviet Union

with gravel or cobblestones, and but 2,400 or 8 per cent of the Union. K meadows,
were asphalted. Natural dirt roads pre- grassland, and permanent pasture are
dominate — in summer notoriously deep in added, the entire agricultural area covered

The Great Siberian Road where it crosses the low central Urals. Most cart roads are either unsurfaced or covered

with gravel.

mud or dust and in winter a series of but 13 per cent of the total of 5,392,000,000
frozen ruts. The scarcity of crushed rock acres.

limits foundation material to sand or river In the area west of the Urals, agricultural
gravel, and handicaps both highways and land as a whole rises to 43 per cent and,

railroads over much of the country. excluding the north of Soviet Europe, the

Aviation is the most rapidly developing percentage becomes 65, which is even
form of Soviet transportation. Scheduled larger than in the settled parts of several
routes covered 71,000 miles in 1938 and western European countries. Little un-
linked Moscow with all centers, even developed good land remains south of
across Siberia. Airplanes carried 292,700 Leningrad, where the remaining forest
passengers. covers 17 per cent. In this area, the rural

population ranges from 65 to over 259 per
Agriculture square mile, as against 25 to 65 in the

There are no adequate statistics of land Mississippi Valley. Soviet Asia had but 2
utilization for the country as a whole. Ac- per cent under cultivation, or 6 per cent in
cording to the best estimate for 1928,^ any agricultural use.

arable land amounted to 432,700,000 acres. Tundra covers 1,270,000 square miles,

•Timoshenko, Vi^dimibP.. “Agricultural KussU ^he taiga forest north of latitude

and the Wheat Problem,” Stanford: Stanford Uni- ^6 N. accounts for 3,900,000 square miles,
versity Press. (1932). Neither area offers important agricultural

Agriculture 307

possibilities on account of climate and soil. 373,217,000 acres. This increase was ob-
Desert and semidesert land in the south tained from virgin steppeland in Siberia
occupies 1,000,000 square miles where cul- where 17,297,000 acres were put under

Harvesting wheat in the southern Kirghiz Republic. {Sovfoto.)

tivation seems out of the question. Notable
developments have occurred in limited
areas but are not capable of indefinite
expansion.

Optimistic agriculturalists place the limit
of feasible cultivation near the Arctic
Circle, but there is little expectation that
normal agriculture will ever displace the
Siberian taiga. Inadequate rainfall is an
obstacle in the arid south, and irrigation
possibilities are limited.

Climate, natural vegetation, and soil all
emphasize the significance of the agricul-
tural wedge from Leningrad to the Black
Sea and east to Lake Baikal, with outliers
toward the Pacific. This triangle is far from
regular, and there are other areas in the
Caucasus and Soviet Middle Asia, but its
general pattern is obvious. The most impor-
tant part of the Soviet Union lies toward
the Atlantic rather than the Pacific.

During the period from 1913 to 1940,
the sown area rose from 262,455,000 to

cultivation during the Second Five-year
Plan, by the irrigation of dry lands east of
the Volga or in Central Asia, through drain-
age of marshes in White Russia, and as a
result of plowing pasture or forage land
no longer needed because of mechanization.

It is doubtful whether there are large
possibilities for future expansion of crop-
land except in the steppe. Despite the
country’s vast size, much of it must remain
agriculturally unproductive. Increased har-
vests will follow higher crop yields and
better utilization rather than added farm
acreage. Prior to the Revolution, part of
the land always lay idle under the three-
crop system of rotating cultivation, pasture,
and fallow.

The total of 373,217,000 acres under,
cultivation (1940) for 170,467,186 people
(1939), gives an average of 2.2 acres per
person. This compares with 2.8 acres in the
United States, or 0.45 in China. The United
States and the Union of Soviet Socialist

308

Economic Developments in the Soviet Union

Republics have nearly the same crop area, changes in industry. Individually owned
but the respective rural populations are farms have disappeared. In 1938 there
53,820,000 (1940) and 114,557,000 (1939). were 242,400 collective farms, with an

An American-designed Rust cotton picker in the Uzbek Republic. (Sovfoto.)

Famines have long been the curse of
Russia, largely owing to erratic rainfall.
Drought and the effects of revolutionary
communism in 1921-1922 caused the
death of 5,250,000 people. Famine occurred
again in 1932-1933 when inadequate rainfall
combined with excessive government grain
collections and peasant sabotage. Many dis-
tricts experienced their lowest rainfall in
150 years in 1938, but agricultural organi-
zation had developed to the point where
extreme distress was avoided.

Soviet agriculture is organized under
either state-operated farms or collectives.
The latter provide for Cooperative share
ownership under the active control of the
government. On state farms, workers are
paid wages; on the collectives they receive
a share of the harvest according to their
work. Both of these are socialist devices to
bring efficiency to farming, parallel to the

average sown area of 1,198 acres, and
3,961 state farms with an average sown
area of 6,651 acres, many of which repre-
sent pioneering expansion into previously
untilled land. '

Mechanization has brought increased
efficiency in farm practice. Modern tractors
and harvesting combines are provided
through Machine Tractor Stations on a
service contract. In 1938, the country had
a total of 483,500 tractors and 153,500
combines.

Wheat and rye are the dominant crops.
All grains together covered 253,030,400
acres out of the 338,280,000 plowed acres
in 1938, with wheat alone accounting for
102,546,500 acres. Yields of winter wheat
were 16.3 bushels per acre and 13.2 for
spring wheat. Winter rye averaged 15.5
bushels per acre, spring barley 16.6, oats
26.5, corn 16.0, and rice 16.6.

Foreign Intercourse

New varieties of wheat have steadily
pushed the area of cultivation to the
vicinity of Moscow, Leningrad, Yaroslavl,
and Gorki. Grain crops are even grown
near the Arctic Circle. Winter wheat
predominates in the Ukraine, and spring
wheat east of the Don and in Siberia where
the autumn is dry and snowfall light.

Although the grain harvest has increased
from 80,100,000 metric tons in 1913 to
94,990,000 metric tons in 1938, higher
domestic consumption has absorbed the
increase. During the five years preceding
the First World War, July, 1909, to July,
1914, Russian wheat exports averaged
165,000,000 bushels, in contrast to 52,000,-
000 bushels from 1931 to 1936.

Technical crops have received special
attention. Cotton production increased
three and a half fold between 1913 and
1938; whereas formerly limited to Soviet
Middle Asia and a small area in the
Transcaucasus, cotton is also grown near
Astrakhan on the Volga, along the Kuban
River, and in the southern Ukraine as far
north as 48°N. The necessity for imports
has almost disappeared. Flax has long been
important in White Russia, as well as
around Moscow and Leningrad. In 1938
the Soviet Union credited itself with 86 per
cent of the world total. Sugar beets are
grown in great quantity in the Ukraine,
around Kursk, and more recently in the
Caucasus, Middle Asia, and the Far East.

Subtropical crops such as grapes, tea,
oranges, and other citrus fruit are increas-
ing in the Transcaucasus.

The U.S.S.R. appears to lead the world
in the total production of rye, barley, oats,
potatoes, flax, and sugar beets. Wheat
production may also hold first place, with
uncertainty due to the statistics for China.

Foreign Intercourse

Between the First and Second World
Wars the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

309

lived more nearly to itself than any other
important nation. Few foreigners crossed
its borders, and only a handful of Soviet

Grapes grow well in the dry climate in the vicinity of
Stalingrad. {Courtesy of Intourist.)

citizens left on oflScial business. Internal
economy was entirely divorced from inter-
national finance. There was no other major
country where one might go through the
shops and find not a single article of foreign
manufacture, or even a magazine or book
from abroad. *

Foreign trade was a government mo-
nopoly, limited to vital imports and the
exports with which to pay for them.
The fortunate abundance of domestic
resources, plus frequent political obstacles
to trade imposed by foreign nations, led
the Soviets to develop an extreme na-
tionalistic economy.

Imports during the interwar years con-
sisted of complex machinery and tools.

SIO

Economic Developments in the Soviet Union

even complete factories, metals such as
copper and aluminum, oil-well equipment
and pipe, raw cotton, and rubber. Exports
included timber, manganese, furs and
bristles, anthracite, asbestos, and fertilizers,
together with some oil and wheat. Political
ends have been involved in the export
of automobiles and trucks, cotton cloth,
and textile and agricultural machinery to
peripheral states such as Outer Mongolia,
Tannu Tuva, Chinese Sinkiang, Iran,
Afghanistan, Rumania, Bulgaria, and the
Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and
Estonia.

Trade with the United States has shown

wide fluctuations, and Soviet imports have
always greatly exceeded sales. During the
First World War, and again in the First
Five-year Plan, imports exceeded $100,-
000,000. They then dropped to $9,000,000
in 1933 and rose steadily to $86,943,000 in
1940. Shipments from the United States
in that year included machine tools, oil-
well equipment, copper, molybdenum, and
cotton, plus gasoline and wheat for the Far
East. In return, the United States received
manganese for its steel industry, anthracite
consigned to New England, furs, and gold.
American shipments during the years
1941 and 1942 totaled $3,000,000,000.

Chapter 19

REGIONS OF SOVIET EUROPE

If Europe starts at the Urals, half of it
lies within the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, but if “Asia begins with Russia,’’
then the real boundary is along the west
of the Soviet Union. Traditional Europe is
the peninsular area in the west, with
historic relations to the penetrating seas.
In the continental portion to the east,
Slavic peoples and undistinguished topog-
raphy have long differentiated the land-
scape from that of Europe proper. More
recently socialist ideology has given the
Soviet frontier inescapable geographic
meaning.

Environmental conditions in Soviet Eu-
rope are less favorable than in Germany or
even Poland. Rainfall is lower and the
variability greater. Farming has been
primitive until recently, yet population
increase has crowded the land as densely
as in more prosperous countries. “ . . .
the Russians actually utilize their agricul-
tural possibilities much more fully than
do the people of the United States. If New
England and northern New York, for
example, were in Russia, their abandoned
farms would undoubtedly be cultivated,
and would yield well above the Russian
average.”^

Soviet Europe may be divided into ten
geographical regions, each with its char-
acteristic landscape.

The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia,
Estonia, and Finland have periodically
been tied to Russia, but their environment
and culture are also related to Germany

^ Van Valkenburg, Samuel and Ellsworth
Huntington, “Europe,” 577.

and the Scandinavian countries. To the
Soviet Union, they have strategic signifi-
cance as a western outlet toward the
ocean. Each forms a geographic region.

Ukrainia

Political divisions seldom coincide with
geographic regions, but this is nearly the
case with the Ukraine. This geographic
entity includes all of the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic, the northern part of
the Crimea, and the continuation of the
Donets Coal Basin beyond the river of the
same name. As here used, the Ukraine
refers to the political area and Ukrainia
to the larger geographic region.

Ukrainia has had a stormy history,
marked by numerous invasions of Turks,
Mongols, Poles, and Lithuanians, as well
as Great Russians. The very word means
“on the border.” Kiev was the center of a
Rus state in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, and is still known as the Mother
of Russia. German forces occupied the area
at the close of the First World War, and
Kiev was again an early objective in 1941.

Although comprising but one-fiftieth of
the area of the Union, Ukrainia has one-
fifth the population and cultivated land,
producing about one-quarter of the wheat
and millet as well as two-thirds of the sugar
beets. Of the Soviet totals, Ukrainia ac-
counts for half of the coal, two-thirds of the
iron, and one-third of the railway traffic.
No other area is so fertile, so productive,
or so densely populated. Despite the spread
of industry during the five-year plans, the

Regions of Soviet Europe

Ukrainia

31S

into Ukrainia, White Russia, the Baltic States, Metropolitan Leningrad, the Kola-Karelia Taiga, the Dvina-

314

Regions of Soviet Europe

Ukraine still retains a unique significance katchewan. Through the center flows the
in Soviet economics. navigable Dnieper, third longest river in

The region has an essential cultural Europe, while in the west are the Bug and

A bridge across the Dnieper at Kiev. Low ground borders the left or eastern bank to the horizon, while the
city lies on a high bluff to the west. {Courtesy of Intourist.)

unity, but a basic occupational distinction
can be drawn between green Ukrainia with
its agriculture, and black Ukrainia with
its iron and steel. Farm lands may further
be divided into the more moist northwest
and the semiarid southeast, a division
reflecting the transition from the scattered
northern forests to the southern open steppe
along the Black Sea.

Ukrainia covers nearly 200,000 square
miles. If superimposed on the same latitudes
in North America, it would bisect the
United States-Canadian boundary. Condi-
tions of climate and vegetation resemble
the Great Plains of Montana and Sas-

Dniester and in the east the Donets and
Don. These rivers wander across featureless
country, in most places no more than a
few hundred feet above sea level. Hills
cross central Ukrainia from west to east,
with elevations up to 1,200 feet. Buried
crystalline rocks appear in the deeper
valleys through this central area. Above
them lie young sedimentaries, with a
general east-west strike, which form low
cuestas or escarpments along the middle
courses of the several rivers. In the west,
these cuestas are parts of the Voly no-
Podolsk Plateau, a continuation of Car-
pathian foothills; in the east, the Donets

Ukrainia

315

Ridge exposes the deeply eroded roots of
ancient mountains.

These structures are reflected in the

Although the continental ice sheet cov-
ered only the middle valley of the Dnieper,
its indirect effects are widespread. Much

Odessa

Elevation, 210 feet; average temperature, 49-S®F.;
total precipitation, 16.1 inches.

Kiev

Elevation, 590 feet; average temperature, 44.2°F.;
total precipitation, 21.1 inches.

course of the Dnieper, which at Kiev
has a flood plain 10 to 1^ miles wide on
the left or northeast and a 300-foot bluff
rising steeply on the right. After following
this escarpment 250 miles to the southeast,
the river abruptly cuts through the hills
with a series of rapids, apparently in an
antecedent course, and flows southwest
to the sea, 170 miles distant. The Don
and Donets have similar courses.

Winters are severe, for cold air masses
sweep from the north without obstruction.
Even the harbor of Odessa is frozen for
several weeks each year. Kiev and KJiarkov
may experience temperatures of —22°F.
In spring and summer, desiccating winds
from interior Asia bring dry air and may
lift July temperatures as high as 130°F.

Annual precipitation varies from 22 to
24 inches north of the central hills to 14
and 18 inches in the Black Sea steppe.
The hills are too low to account for this
difference, which seems related to the
Carpathian barrier rising to the west
across the path of Atlantic moisture.
In farming, a constant effort is necessary
to conserve the light winter snowfall and
critical spring rain.

of Ukrainia is veneered with wind-laid
loess, blown outward from the glaciated
regions or derived from outwash flood
plains. The resulting black chernozem soil
is exceptionally high in organic material
and lime, and has maintained its fertility
despite centuries of utilization. Chestnut-
brown soils prevail in the driest areas to
the south, and podsolic types occur in the
limited forest section of the north.

Agriculture is important. In 1935, the
Ukraine harvested crops on 63,534,500
acres. The area of the Republic is 171,600
square miles, of which 87 per cent may be
classed as potentially productive for cul-
tivation, pasture, or forest. Forest land
amounted to 12 per cent in 1891, but had
dropped to 7 per cent by 1935.

In 1935, grain accounted for 75 per cent
of the harvested area, industrial crops
such as sugar beets and cotton represented
9 per cent, forage and fodder 8 per cent,
and potatoes 5 per cent.

In the limited area north of Kiev, rye,
oats, and potatoes are the chief crops.
Winter wheat dominates all the central
area from the Dniester to the Donets,
supplemented by sugar beets, corn, soy-

316 Regions of Soviet Europe

beans, sunflower, and barley. Rice is 1933 as 309,000,000, and in 1934 as
locally raised along the central Dnieper. 145,000,000 bushels. Prior to the First

'y ' f X

SSA Jj

SCALE I 5,000.000.

25 50 7» fOO

Ain't twd. And Peo,i««

VZZi DONETS COAL BASIN

MACHINE-BUILDING

— ► 300,000- 1,500.000 TONS

■

COAL MINES

HYDRO-ELECTRIC PLANT

=>1500,000 - 3000.000 TONS

F«

IRON ORE

« .

ANNUAL FLOW OF ORE

^3k000.000 - 6,000,000 TONS

MANGANESE

IRON AND STEEL MILLS

ANNUAL aOW OF COAL

^ epOQOOO - 12000,000 TONS

The Donets coal field of the southern Ukraine has long been the major center of heavy industry for the
Soviet Union. Iron ore and manganese are available to the west. Railways are shown as on other Soviet maps,
with single-track roads in light lines and double-track roads in heavy lines. {Data from Great Soviet World
Atlas*' 1937.)

The’ semiarid Black Sea littoral and
northern Crimea raise spring wheat, sun-
flower, rye, oats, and cotton.

Wheat output fluctuates widely with
the climate and planned crop diversifica-
tion, thus the Ukraine yield in 1931
was reported as 237,000,000 bushels, in

World War there was a large surplus for
export.

Technical crops include sugar beets,
in which this region leads all others by
far, sunflower, hemp, flax, 500,000 acres
of cotton, and tobacco. Horses, cattle,
and pigs are of only local importance.

Ukrainia

317

The industry of Ukrainia exceeds agri-
culture in importance. Coal, iron ore,
manganese, salt, kaolin, and fire clay,
plus hydroelectric power, make this a
significant area for heavy industry, third
in Europe to the lower Rhine and British
Midlands. However, Soviet industry has
become so nationwide that the propor-
tionate rank of Ukrainia has declined.

The Donets coal fields occupy a struc-
tural basin that outcrops as a topographic
ridge south of the Donets River. Within
this area of 230 miles from east to west
and 50 miles width are a dozen important
cities and some 200 mines. About an
eighth of the production comes from
east of the political limits of the Ukraine.
Both anthracite and bituminous coals
are mined, much of the latter making
excellent coke.

Excellent iron ore is produced in the
vicinity of Krivoi Rog, 200 miles west
of the coal. Since most of the ore moves
to the coal, the western part of the coal
basin is most developed, with blast fur-
naces at Makeevka, Stalino, and elsewhere.
Iron industries have also arisen near the
ore, and at intermediate points where the
connecting railways cross the Dnieper
at Dniepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe. At
the latter, electricity is used in the making
of alloy steels. Manganese fortunately
lies between coal and ore, and there is
adequate fluxing limestone.

In addition to this east-west combine,
ore and coal move north and south between
the Donets and Kerch at the eastern end
of Crimea. Kerch ore is not equal to that
of Krivoi Rog, but there are important
furnaces at both Mariupol and Kerch.

These basic resources have given rise
to a great variety of subsidiary industries,
including cement, brick, chinaware, chemi-
cals, aluminum, glass, and machine build-
ing. Those which require hydroelectric
power are clustered about the dam near

Zaporozhe; those which utilize coal are
in the Donets area. Where skilled labor

A continuous strip steel mill at Zaporozhe, a steel
center where Donets coal and Krivoi Rog iron ore
meet at the Dnieper River. (Sovfoto.)

is vital and fabrication important, indus-
tries gravitate toward Kharkov.

The Ukraine is the most urbanized
section of the Union. In 1939 the population
of the Republic was 30,960,221, of whom
11,195,620 lived in 556 “city points.”
The population of this region appears to
have reached a saturation point, since the
estimate for 1931 was 29,042,000 and for
1933 was 31,902,000. Nine-tenths of the
people are Ukrainians.

Within the region are 17 cities with a
population over 100,000. Kiev, the capital,
is the largest with 846,293 people in 1939,
placing it after Moscow and Leningrad.
The city is beautifully situated on the right
bank of the Dnieper near the junction of
the Desna. The commercial importance

318 Regions of Soviet Europe

of its site was recognized as early as the The third city of Ukrainia is Odessa,
eighth century when Greek and Norse picturesque seaport on the Black Sea.
traders met here along a major trade The population was 604,223 in 1039.

route from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
Later on, Kiev became a great religious
center. Trade in wheat and sugar, general
market functions, and simple industries
such as clothing have been supplemented
by food and machine industries. Ship-
building is an old occupation.

Kharkov is the fourth city of the Union,
with a population of 833,432 in 1939.
Since the Donets coal and steel area is
but 125 miles southeast, IQiarkov has
developed important heavy industries,
such as tractors and farm implements,
locomotives, machine tools, and electric
generators, as well as agricultural products
and clothing. Whereas Kiev is old, Kharkov
was founded in the seventeenth century.
The city lies 461 miles south of Moscow
on the direct railway to the Crimea.

Odessa’s foreign trade has fluctuated
widely with the exportable surplus of
wheat and with internal political develop-
ments. There are excellent harbor facilities
and considerable coastal trade but surpris-
ingly limited foreign service, for passenger
facilities to Constantinople and the Medi-
terranean in 1936-1937 were limited to one
Soviet boat every three weeks. This
reflects the exceedingly meager contact
between the Soviet Union and the outside
world. The city increased less than 20 per
cent from 1910 to 1935, while Kiev nearly
doubled, and Kharkov even more. Indus-
tries include food products, agricultural
machinery, and the evaporation of sea
water for salt.

Rostov-on-Don, 510,253 in 1939, imports
steel from the Donets area to the north

Ukrainia

319

and is a center of heavy industry much Here was the largest hydroelectric station
like Kharkov. Agricultural equipment is in Europe, with a capacity of 900,000
especially important. The near-by Sea of kilowatts. The dam is 2,500 feet long and

Shevchenko Park and government office buildings in Kharkov. {Sovfoto.)

Azov yields large numbers of fish. Com-
merce in agricultural products includes
leather and wheat from the surrounding
steppes. This is the traditional center of
the Don Cossacks.

The largest city within the Donets Basin
is Stalino, 462,395 in 1939. Near by is
Makeevka with a population of 240,145.
Each is a coal-mining town with great blast
furnaces operating on Krivoi Rog ore. Just
outside the basin on the north is Voroshil-
ovgrad, formerly Lugansk, with 213,007 in
1939, the leading city for the manufacture
of locomotives.

Three cities are grouped around the
Dnieper rapids, submerged by the great
dam from 1932 until its destruction in 1941.

raises the water level 125 feet. To the
north are Dniepropetrovsk, 500,662 in
1939, and Dnieprodzerzinsk, 147,829 in
1939. The new city of Zaporozhe, 289,188
in 1939, is at the dam itself. Abundant elec-
tric power and a position midway between
Donets coal and Krivoi Rog iron ore have
given these cities great industrial impor-
tance. All three have blast furnaces and
important machine-building works. Zapo-
rozhe has aluminum works and chemical
plants.

Mariupol, 222,427 in 1939, and Taganrog
are iron centers on the Sea of Azov.
Taganrog also serves as a deepwater port
for Rostov-on-Don. The ore center of
Krivoi Rog, 197,621 in 1939, is the western

S20 Regions of Soviet Europe

outpost of steel production in Ukrainia. there will probably be great changes in the
South of it lies the shipbuilding city of size and relative importance of given cities.
Nikolayev near the Black Sea. Important though it will be, the Ukraine

Old wooden houses and modern apartments at Minsk, in White Russia. Such contrasts characterize all Soviet

cities. (Sovfoto.)

At the beginning of the Second World
War, the Soviet Union reoccupied parts of
eastern Poland ceded to the Union by the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk but lost during the
civil war. That part of the area inhabited
by Ukrainians was added to the Ukrainian
Republic and may be regarded as a con-
tinuation of the geographic region here
described. The area contains oil, gas, coal,
iron, and zinc in modest amounts.

Wartime destruction in the Ukraine was
so great, and evacuation, particularly of
industrial equipment, so thorough, that
restoration of economy to prewar levels
will be a matter of years. Although the
natural resources of the area make it cer-
tain that the type of economy will be
similar to that existing before the war.

may not again occupy the dominating
place in certain fields of heavy industry
that it held before the war. As a matter of
fact, the war served to accelerate the
planned shift of Soviet economy to the
east. Although the U.S.S.R. will probably
be in closer economic, cultural, and
diplomatic contact with the West then
ever before, it will, for the first time, have
a really significant proportion of its
population and economy in Asia.

White Russia

The Belorussian Soviet Socialist Repub-
lic, commonly known as White Russia, is a
region of glacially formed swampland
along the western border of the Union.
Reacquisition of portions of Poland in 1940

White Russia

S21

extended the Republic westward and in- and rivers are an important source of fish,
creased its original area of 80,000 square but the country is too low for much water
miles by more than a third. The population power.

Harvesting flax in White Russia. {Sovfoto.)

in 1939 before the expansion numbered
5,567,976, of whom 1,372,132 were classed
as urban. There are 101 “city points,*' but
only three exceeded 100,000 in size. The
capital is Minsk, with 238,772 people in
1939.

White Russia includes the hilly swamp-
land at the headwaters of the south-flowing
Dnieper and Pripet, and Baltic drainage
in the basin of the Western Dvina. A tenth
of the region is a bog, much of it in the
Pripet or Polesian Marshes. In some areas
the extensive lakes and channels make
water transport more important than road-
ways.* The Pripet and Bug rivers are
connected by an important canal, providing
barge service west to Germany. The small
villages cluster on sand dunes or natural
levees. Even in the more hilly lands to the
north there are a great many undrained
depressions in the glacial drift. The lakes

The Baltic Sea makes the climate less
continental than elsewhere. Rainfall is 22
to 24 inches, which is quite adequate since
the evaporation is low. Drought is a rare
hazard. Mixed forests of oak, linden, and
maple with some spruce and fir cover a
quarter of the surface. Hemlock and oak
supply tanbark for an important leather
industry.

Wet and acid soils limit agriculture to a
sown area of 10,000,000 acres, of which
1,740,000 are recently drained swamps.
Grain crops are chiefly rye and oats, but
local output is below consumption and
wheat is imported from the Ukraine. Root
vegetables like beets, turnips, and potatoes
do well. In the south hemp is grown, in the
north flax, which is shipped to Moscow for
processing. Pigs are important.

The lack of minerals restricts industry.
Peat is used in homes and in central electric

822

Regions of Soviet Europe

generating stations, with a production of from the Tatar invasion in the thirteenth
2,500,000 tons in 1937. Lumber, paper, century. Polish influence is important
leather, bristles, and meat are notable toward the west.

Leningrad was Peter the Great’s “ Window to Europe.” Because of swamp conditions in the delta of the Neva,
the first settlement in this area was at Novgorod.

products. The surplus is shipped by water- Military operations overran the area
way north to Riga on the Baltic or south during both the First and Second World
to Kiev. Wars. In each instance the vast Pripet

White Russia is one of the most back- Marshes were of great strategic significance,
ward regions of Soviet Europe. Rural areas When Napoleon was retreating from Mos-
have been retarded by unfavorable soils cow in November, 1812, many of his re-
and a topography that makes transport maining troops were drowned when ice
diflicult, while urban centers have devel- gave way on the Berezina River east of
oped slowly for want of a productive Minsk,
countryside and industry. Population dis-
tribution is very uneven; some areas have Metropolitan Leningrad
less than 2 people per square mile, others When the ancient Varangians from Swe-
rise to 130. The people represent one of the den came into Russia, they found the easiest
purest group of Slavs; many of them have water passage through the Gulf of Finland
lived here without mixture since they fled up the Neva River to Lake Ladoga, thence

Metropolitan Leningrad

323

south through the Volkhov River to Lake
Ilmen and on. The shores of the gulf were
exposed to attack and did not offer a
suitable site for a city. Instead they built
their trading center at Novgorod at the
outlet of Lake Ilmen. For several centuries
this remained the dominant city in the
north, and became a member of the
Hanseatic League.

Sweden later recognized the importance
of the Neva delta in continental trade and
built forts there in 1300 and again in 1600.
By defeating the Swedes in 1703, Peter the
Great secured for Russia a “window to
Europe,” and in the same year began con-
struction of St. Petersburg, which was
renamed Leningrad in 1924. Partly because
the city actually has warmer winters than
Moscow, Peter built his Winter Palace on
the banks of the Neva. The site of the city
was chosen because it provided access to
the sea, and with little regard to its
suitability for buildings. So many lives
were lost in early construction that the
city has the reputation of being built on
bones. The surrounding delta has numer-
ous distributaries and islands, so that the
present city requires 500 bridges. Floods
occasionally cause great damage, especially
when western winds pile up water in the
gulf. During the winter, the Neva is frozen
for six months, but icebreakers keep the
harbor open except from mid-December to
February.

Leningrad owes its importance to the
larger setting rather than to its site. Water-
ways and short canals connect the Neva,
via the surrounding Lakes Ladoga, Onega, #
and Ilmen, with the headwaters of the
Volga, Dnieper, and western Dvina. Lake
Ladoga is the largest body of water in
Europe and nearly the size of Lake Ontario;
its southern margin is bordered by a canal
to safeguard navigation. The Stalin Canal
leads from Lake Onega north to the White
Sea. These waterways make Leningrad the

natural sea outlet for the trade of the Volga,
the Ural and Caspian areas, and even
western Siberia. These facilities became

Leningrad

Elevation, 30 feet; average temperature, 38.7°F.;
total precipitation, 18.8 inches.

important as early as the eighteenth
century, giving Leningrad a commercial
and industrial advantage never surpassed
by any other Russian city. In earlier years
Ural metals as well as Volga grain and*live-
stock found their outlet here.

In exchange for these export shipments,
Leningrad early received coal and ma-
chinery from England and Germany, cotton
from the United States, jute from India,
and rubber from the tropics. Foreign capital
and engineering skill helped to make the
city Russia’s leading factory center, espe-
cially for technical work. Thus Leningrad
acquired an accumulation of skilled and
industrial facilities. Riga might provide a
better entrepot on the Baltic, but even
with the substitution of rail transport for
waterways, Leningrad’s historic lead re-
mains.

Industrial facilities in the Leningrad
region prior to the war provided 75 per
cent of the shipbuilding in the Union, 50
per cent of the electrical equipment,
35 per cent of the paper, 25 per cent of the
machine building, 25 per cent of the
chemical industry, and important contribu-
tions in the field of textiles, furs, shoes.

324 Regions of Soviet Europe

typewriters, rayon, and furniture. Although Moscow, built in 1851. The Red Star
the five-year programs were designed to Express covers the 403 miles in ten hours,
spread industry across the Union, the Few cities in the world are laid out along

A summer evening on the Avenue of the 25th of October in Leningrad, named from the date of the Revolution
which started here, Nov. 7, 1917, new style. Long summer evenings characterize this high latitude. {Sovfoto.)

products of Leningrad are so indispens- such handsome lines as was St. Petersburg,
able that production has grown over five- Its founder and the succeeding czars built
fold. Electrical power is obtained from magnificent public buildings, palaces, and
two plants that use peat and from two churches. As the capital of an empire, the
hydroelectric stations, as well as from coal, city became the leading cultural center.

Shipping entering the port in 1933 The museums of the Hermitage and the
amounted to but 2,098,000 registered tons. Winter Palace house one of the greatest
which did not place Leningrad among the art collections in the world.

50 leading ports of the world. Lumber was • At the time of Peter’s death in 1725,
the major export, while machinery was the population numbered 75,000. This
imported. In 1936-1937, passenger service increased to 192,000 by 1784, 861,000 in
was limited to one Soviet steamer a week to 1881, and 2,075,000 in 1913. After the
London, plus an additional weekly sailing Revolution, there was acute distress and
during the summer, and ten summer calls the population fell to 722,000 in 1920, but
by the French Line. Rail transport has far in 1939 it reached 3,191,304.
surpassed water, with 11 lines radiating The Leningrad geographic region ap-'
from the city. The first line was that to proximately coincides with the oblast

Kola-Karelian Taiga

S25

of the same name. Rainfall amounts to
24 inches, and agriculture is more handi-
capped by excess moisture and a high
water table than by drought. January
temperatures average 15°F., and the July
average is 64°F. Snow falls as late as May.
Half the region is covjered with forest.
Near Leningrad the cleared land is used
for market gardens and dairy products;
farther away are found potatoes, flax, and
pigs. Rye is everywhere less important
than hay and fodder crops.

Despite an unattractive site and political
changes, Leningrad retains an industrial
leadership because of its larger setting and
inherited ability. It has well been said that
Leningrad stands for skill, Moscow for
strength, and Kiev for beauty.

Kola^Karelian Taiga

Karelia and the Kola Peninsula form the
eastern margin of the Fenno-Scandian
Shield. They resemble Finland, or central
Canada, in their complex of ancient crystal-
line and metamorphic rocks, and in the
effects of continental glaciation. Intense
ice scour has stripped off the residual soil
and smoothed the. bedrock; elsewhere
glacial debris covers the surface. Deep
U-shaped valleys and coastal fiords reveal
the intensity of ice action. Innumerable
lakes, connected by swift rivers, cover over
10 per cent of the region. Most of the area
is hilly and under 1,000 feet in elevation,
with isolated mountains to 3,400 feet.

The region covers 105,000 square miles,
about equally divided by the Kandalaksha
embayment. From Leningrad to Mur-
mansk is just 900 miles by rail, covered by
the Polar Arrow Express in 38 hours.

Precipitation decreases from 24 inches in
the south to 16 inches in the north. Most
of the rain comes in the late summer.
Snow falls from October through May, so
that the frost-free period is under 100 days
except in the south. Temperatures are

lowest in the center away from the mod-
erating influence of the ocean.

A taiga forest of pine, spruce, and birch
covers 96 per cent of the land of Karelia
and continues over much of the Kola
Peninsula, bounded by tundra on the higher
elevations and along the Arctic Coast.
Most of the commercial timber is tributary
to Leningrad, with Petrozavodsk as the
chief mill town. Fish abound, especially
cod and haddock from Arctic waters. The
canning industry centers in Murmansk and
Kandalaksha. The fur trade goes back to
•the early days of Novgorod.

Until the First World War, the region
was sparsely inhabited except for a small
Karelian population near Leningrad and
reindeer-herding Lapps in the north. Since
1930 spectacular fiidustrial developments
have taken place north of the Arctic Circle.
Near the railway and just east of Lake
Imandra, is Khibin Mountain. This is an
intrusion of nepheline syenite uniquely
differentiated into 50 elements and many
rare minerals. Apatite reserves total 2,000,-
000,000 tons and are mined at a rate of
2,000,000 tons yearly for superphosphate
fertilizer. Nepheline is even more abundant
and provides a source of aluminum. These
are the largest reserves in the world. Here
the city of Kirovsk has grown from nothing
to 50,000. Electric power is available near
Kandalaksha, a few miles to the south.

Another isolated elevation is near Mon-
chegorsk where nickel and copper reserves
are second only to those at Norilsk on the
Yenisei. Magnetite iron ore is near by.

Murmansk is the Soviet Union’s gateway
to the open Atlantic, and also the terminus
of the Northern Sea Route to the Pacific.
It is an important naval base and was a
port for Allied supplies during the Second
World War. The city lies 20 miles from
the sea on the deep Kola fiord, where fresh
water and the warmth of the Atlantic drift
keep the harbor open the year around, the

326

Regions of Soviet Europe

only ice-free port in the Union. From a land, although production is but 11 per
population of some 3,000 in 1916, Mur- cent. The area actually forested is 1,527,-
mansk grew to 117,054 in 1939. This is 300,000 acres, of which 370,000,000 lie

Cabbages grow to giant size on the experimental farm near Kirovsk, north of the Arctic Circle, Long hours of
sunshine, of low intensity, cause the development of large leaves on all vegetables. {Sovfoto.)

much the largest city anywhere within the in Soviet Europe. Of this total forest area,
Arctic Circle. To obtain fuel, the U.S.S.R. 62 per cent is suitable for commercial
has a coal-mining concession in Spitzbergen exploitation. Pine and spruce account for
which supplied 475,000 tons in 1936. nine-tenths of the conifers, with birch and

Agricultural conditions are unfavorable aspen representing eight-tenths of the
except in the extreme south near Petro- deciduous trees.

zavodsk where hay and fodder crops sup- Forest products are the country’s second
port a small dairy industry. The great largest export, normally ranking next to
expansion of population in the north has grain. Most of this goes to England,
brought a need for fresh vegetables, and Germany, France, Holland, and Belgium,
experimental farms have made it possible In normal years. Great Britain receives
to raise vegetables on several hundred more timber from the Union than from all
acres around Kirovsk, and even at the rest of the world combined. In addition
Murmansk. to sawn timber, there is a large trade in

railroad ties, mine props, and pulpwood,
tno- ec ora aiga paper. As supplies dimin-

The forest resources of the Soviet Union ish in Scandinavia, the reserves of northern
amount to 21 per cent of the world’s timber- Soviet Europe increase in importance.

Dvina-Pechora Taiga

327

The increase in importance is also true of course in the north. During the summer
internal needs, since commercial forests in they carry millions of logs, especially on the
the Moscow area are nearly gone. Dvina and its tributary the Vichegda.

Greenhouses are widely used in the Arctic for raising fresh vegetables. This scene is south of Murmansk near
Kirovsk on the shores of Lake Imandra. {Sovfoio.)

From Lake Ladoga to the Urals, and
north of latitude 60°N., lies the country’s
finest coniferous forest, made up of Norway
spruce, Scotch pine, larch, and fir, with
scattered birch, alder, and willow. Tree
growth is slow, for 18-inch logs are often
150 to 170 years old.

Since this forest roughly corresponds
with Arctic drainage, it may be called the
Dvina-Pechora Taiga, from the names
of the two principal rivers. Other rivers
of lesser importance are the Onega and the
Mezen. Glacial debris and recent marine
sediments mask the bedrock except in the
low Timan Hills west of the Pechora.

Rivers are frozen from 180 to 200 days
and are subject to serious spring floods
before ice is cleared from their lower

Along the river banks, clearings extend
two to six miles inland. The scattered
population lives in drab log houses, raises
hay for cattle, and grows a few vegetables
such as cabbages and beets. Villages cling
to the margin of a river or lake, or lie
on the slopes of morainic hills away from
the damp lowlands. In the south it is
possible to raise fair crops of barley, rye,
oats, flax, and hemp.

Arkhangelsk, or Archangel, is the leading
city and the Union’s largest mill center.
The population numbered 281,091 in
1939, yet it lies on the latitude of Nome,
Alaska. In 1935, 8J^ billion board feet were
shipped from this port. In the preceding
year, 546 vessels called at Arkhangelsk.
The White Sea is frozen from November

328

Regions of Soviet Europe

through April, but icebreakers keep the
port open for most of the winter except
when ice goes out of the rivers. The city

Arkhangelsk

Elevation, 50 feet; average temperature, 32.5®F.;
total precipitation, 15.3 inches.

lies 25 miles from the sea on one of the
distributaries, with a 21-foot dredged
channel. There is an annual average
temperature of 32.5®F., with 15 inches of
precipitation. Four hundred miles upstream
is Kotlas, a local commercial center.

The timber of the Pechora Valley has
scarcely been touched. Discoveries of oil
at Ukhta and coal at Vorkuta are especially
important because of the absence of
mineral fuel elsewhere in the north.

Central Agricultural Region

Environmental conditions divide the
European portion of the Russian Soviet
Federated Socialist Republics into three
major zones. In the north is the relatively
untouched Dvina-Pechora coniferous forest,
in the center is the cleared mixed forest,
and in the south is the cultivated steppe.
Between the first two the boundary ’ roughly
follows the limits of Arctic drainage;
between the second and third the boundary
is determined by climate and vegetation.
Whereas the center has over 20 inches of
rainfall, the other regions receive less.

The Central Agricultural Region extends
from the western frontier to the Urals.

The northern limit lies near 60°N., just
beyond the Trans-Siberian Railway from
Leningrad to Molotov, formerly Perm,
and the region continues south to an
irregular line between 52 and 54°N., which
bends south in the Kursk and Volga hills,
and swings north in the Don and Volga
lowlands. Except for industry in the larger
cities, this region is dominantly agricul-
tural, the home of millions of peasants
who live very near the earth. Metropolitan
Leningrad and Moscow are considered
separately.

Almost the entire region is drained by
the Volga and its tributaries, the Oka
and Kama. This is the greatest river
in Europe, with a length of 2,309 miles.
It carries half the river-borne freight of
the Union.

Most of the region is an erosional plain,
with gradients so gentle that floods do
much damage. Except near the Urals
the only elevations over 1,000 feet are in
the Valdai, Smolensk-Moscow, and Pre-
Volga Hills. Most of the region was
glaciated, but strong morainic features
are limited to the northwest quarter.

Of the 15 cities of over 100,000 popula-
tion, 7 lie on the Volga. The westernmost
of these is the textile center of Kalinin,
at the crossing of the Moscow-Leningrad
Railway. Farther downstream is the impor-
tant city of Yaroslavl, the oldest Russian
town on the Volga, and the point where
the passenger trains of the Trans-Siberian
line cross the river. Its industries include
cotton and linen textiles, trucks, and
rubber goods. The population was 298,065
in 1939.

Gorki, formerly Nizhni-Novgorod, is at
the junction of the Oka. This is the me-
tropolis of the upper Volga, long famous
for its great fair which once brought as
many as 400,000 visitors; it manufactures
automobiles, paper, boats, and a large
variety of metal goods, and had 644,116

. Metropolitan Moscovy

329

people in 1939. Kazan, noteworthy for
leather, lies near the confluence of the
Kazan and Volga Rivers. The population
was 401,665 in 1939.

The precipitation is about 20 inches,
declining to the east. If rain falls at the
proper seasons and the ground receives
adequate moisture from melting snow,
this is enough for normal agriculture;
but unfortunately there are often serious
variations. Most of the region has average
annual temperatures between 35 and 40®F.,
with long and severe winters. The frost-
free period is 120 to 150 days, exceptionally
long for this latitude. The comparable
period at the same latitude around Hud-
son’s Bay is but 60 days.

This was a region of mixed conifers and
deciduous forests. The largest remaining
forest areas are east and north of Gorki,
but even around Moscow trees cover two-
fifths of the province. Houses are univer-
sally built of logs.

Prior to the Revolution, rye was the
chief grain, for it is tolerant of podsol
soils, cool summers, and the short growing
season. The usual black bread is made
of rye and molasses. Improvements in
spring wheat have pushed its cultivation
northward, and it now equals or exceeds
the acreage of rye. Considerable land was
added to cultivation from 1916 to 1935
through the clearing of forests and the
draining of marshland.

Flax and sunflowers each occupy 6 per
cent of the cropland. Potatoes and cabbages
are widely grown. Livestock includes cattle,
sheep, goats, horses, and pigs.

The industries reflect agriculture, for
mineral resources are limited. Flour mills
operate in many towns, and sugar, leather,
felt boots, woolen cloth, and clothing are
also important products. Lumber mills and
woodworking industries cling to navigable
rivers. Peasant handicrafts include lace
At Vologda.

The people are largely Great Russians,
but toward the east there are islands of
Tatars, Bashkirs, and Chuvash, each in
their own autonomous soviet socialist
republic. Population densities range from
26 to 259 per square mile. In view of the
inhospitable climate and poor soil, this
represents a moderate crowding. Rural
standards of living are low.

Metropolitan Moscow

Few cities in the world and none in the
Soviet Union have the glamour that sur-
rounds Moscow, more properly spelled
Moskva. Its streets bring together pictur-
esque Cossacks from the lower Volga, tribes-
men from Uzbekistan, colorfully dressed
visitors from the Transcaucasus, and
nomads from the Arctic. Here is the seat
of the Soviet government and the heart of
Slavic culture. According to an old saying,
“There is nothing above Moscow except
the Kremlin, and nothing above the Krem-
lin except heaven.” Urban rebuilding
has liquidated many of the churches and
other architectural monuments, but the
Soviets cannot undo the history of the
centuries even if they wished. The story
of old Russia centers in the Red Square
and the Kremlin.

Moscow was first mentioned in 1147
but was not important until after the
decline of Kiev when Ivan III became the
ruler of all Russia from 1462 to 1505.
It remained the capital until Peter the
Great removed the government to St.
Petersburg in 1711, but several of his
successors continued to favor the Kremlin
as the proper capital of the country.
Much of the city was destroyed in con-
nection with Napoleon’s invasion of 1812,
but Moscow has always arisen greater
from every conflagration.

In 1939, the population of Moscow num-
bered 4,137,018. This is a great increase
from the 1912 figure 9! 1,617,000, and

330

Regiotis of Soviet Europe

Moscow is the focal point for eleven railway lines. The city surrounds the walled Kjemlin on high ground

adjoining the Moscow River.

Metropolitan Moscow

331

especially from the post-revolutionary low
of 800,000 in 1920. The area in 1940 was
114 square miles.

60 *
50®
40*

32®

20 ®
KD®

Moscow

Elevation, 480 feet; average temperature, 39.0®F.;
total precipitation, 21 inches.

The leadership of Moscow reflects its
central geographic position . Eleven rail-
ways focus on the city, four of them elec-
trified in their suburban sections. Six of
these lines are double tracked, two are
three tracked, and one is a four-track sys-
tem. Long before railways, this was the
center of trade routes which led northwest
to Novogorod, north to Yaroslavl, east
to Nizhni-Novgorod, now Gorki, south to
the Ukraine, and even brought commerce
from Siberia, Middle Asia, and Persia. The
city lies in the broad plain of the upper
Volga, Oka, and Don. Though Moscow is
well to the west of the country as a whole,
it is not far from the center of the triangle
of population. As a result of the new 80-
mile canal to the Volga, Moscow describes
itself as the “Port of the Five Seas” — the
Baltic, White, Caspian, Azov, and Black —
but water-borne freight to such distances
is limited. Modern automobile roads ra-
diate to Leningrad, Minsk, Voronezh,
Ryazan, Gorki, and Yaroslavl.

Climatic conditions are those of the
Central Agricultural Region. With a lati-
tude of 36°N., winter days are but six
hours long and temperatures drop as low

as — 44®F., with a January mean of 14®F.
Snow covers the ground for 150 days, to an
average depth of a foot or two. Frost

Few cities have been so extensively rebuilt as
Moscow. Modern office buildings and apartment
houses are characteristic, but century-old structures
and cobblestone streets are just around the corner.
{Courtesy Intourist.)

hazards require water mains to be laid ten
feet deep. During the long summer days
the thermometer has reached 97®F., and
there is a July average of 66°F.

The city lies on the shallow Moskva
River, which flows in a series of broad
meanders with undercut bluffs on the outer
loops and sand bars on the inside of the
bends. The earliest settlement was opposite
a narrow island on a 130-foot bluff, where
the Kremlin, which in Russian means cit-
adel, was built, originally of wood. The pres-
ent imposing brick parapets and towers
date from Ivan III. This nucleus around
which Moscow grew is now a collection of

332

Regions of Soviet Europe

palaces, golden-domed churches, and gov- story houses. Magnificent streets with
ernment offices. In early days the Kremlin ornate structures alternated with irregular
was the residence of the aristocracy. Out- alleys and miserable hovels. The city

The stations of the Moscow subway are attractively finished in ornamental stone from the Urals, stainless
steel, and tile. Each station is different. {Sovfoto.)

side its eastern gate was a bazaar on the
Red Square and beyond it the homes of
merchants. To protect this extramural
area a second wall was built in 1534, known
as the Chinese Wall although it had no
connection with Tatars.

As Moscow grew, it expanded farther and
a third and fourth wall were built, the
latter with a radius of a mile and a half
from the Kremlin. These outer two walls
have been replaced by circular boulevards,
and the built-up city today extends far
beyond the limits of the old original
nucleus. Streets have a cobweb pattern
with radial arteries leading out through
old gateways onto intercity highways.
Cross streets are more or less concentric
with the series of old city walls.

Old Moscow was a city of great contrasts.
Most of it was a gigantic village of two-

lacked the metropolitan smartness of Paris
or Berlin, and municipal services such as
sanitation were of limited development. In
1935, plans were drawn up for ten years of
reconstruction, involving magnificent sub-
ways, a great extension of housing and
office buildings, a new water supply, a
notable widening of streets, and sweeping
revisions in land use. Expenditures in the
first five years amounted to ten billion
rubles. No city has ever been so extensively
rebuilt in modern times. Some parts have
been altered beyond recognition. Housing
needs are still urgent, for population con-
tinues to grow.

In 1940, there were 135,900 telephones,
27,592 hospital beds, and the daily water
consumption was 59.7 gallons per capita.
Eighty-two colleges had 94,987 students.
There were 40 legitimate theaters and 55

333

Southern Agricultural Region

moving-picture theaters. The Soviets have
continued Russia’s high tradition in the
ballet, opera, and drama.

As an industrial area, Moscow produced
one-seventh the manufactured goods of
the nation. Consumer goods were once
dominant, but heavy industry has become
very significant. In 1940, the incoming
freight of coal, oil, metals, lumber, grain,
and raw cotton amounted to 22,900,000
metric tons. Outgoing shipments were
only 4,300,000 tons, made up of machinery
and other metal products, prepared food-
stuffs, textile, and clothing. The industrial
area circles the residential city and in-
cludes factories for automobiles, agricul-
tural machinery, flour, leather goods,
cotton, flax, wool, electrical equipment,
and machine tools. Large thermal-electric
stations burn near-by lignite or peat,
and supply both electricity and steam for
heating.

Southern Agricultural Region

In terms of soil the agricultural pos-
sibilities of this region are among the most
attractive in the entire Union, but if
judged by climate the story is very dif-
ferent. Before the arrival of man this was
a steppe, treeless except along the streams
or in the moister north. For centuries it was
the home of nomadic horsemen, the Cos-
sacks of the lower Volga, Don, and Kuban
rivers. Into these grasslands came Mongol
warriors, and more recently the Russian
farmer.

The yearly precipitation decreases from
20 inches in the west to as little as 12 inches
in the southeast, with 16 inches a repre-
sentative figure. Russian agronomists place
the agricultural frontier at the 12-inch line,
in contrast to American limits of 20 inches.
Since low rainfall is associated with high
variability, crop failures have been recur-
rent. In 1892 and 1921, drought reached
the proportions of a national calamity.

This is the area of rich black chernozem
and almost equally valuable chestnut-
brown soils. Both are high in organic matter
and soluble minerals, but their very rich-
ness is caused by insufficient water to
leach the soil.

Successful agriculture depends on build-
ing up the soil moisture through careful
conservation of winter snow and frequent
cultivation to check evaporation. Shelter-
belt planting has been used with moderate
success for decades. Present irrigation
developments are limited to the flood plains
of the rivers, but two dams on the Volga
near Kuibyshev will supply power to pump
water into canals on the eastern Volga
steppe.

Some of the largest state farms lie on
the drier margins of agriculture in this
region. Crop hazards are too Uncertain to
be risked by the individual, but by spe-
cialized techniques the government hopes
to obtain a fair harvest in most years. In
two decades prior to the First World War,
there were three years of complete crop
failure at Saratov on the Volga and but five
good crops. Drought brings a risk to live-
stock as well as to grain.

Spring wheat and winter rye are the
dominant grains, followed by oats, barley,
and millet. The only other crop of impor-
tance is sunflower, raised for its oil. Pre-
1913 crops of spring wheat averaged but
six to seven bushels per acre on the Volga.

Stalingrad is a major industrial center,
with a 1939 population of 445,476. It
receives coal and steel from the Donets
Basin, oil from Baku, and timber down
the Volga. For 30 miles, industries line the
Volga and include metallurgical works,
tractors, shipbuilding, agricultural ma-
chinery, oil refining, and lumber yards.
Stalingrad’s importance will be further
increased if a proposed 60-mile canal
should link the Don and the Volga. The
latter river is frozen 148 days. Although

The Ural Mountains

335

seriously damaged at the height of the
German invasion, Stalingrad’s location is
so important that it will surely be rebuilt.

Kuibyshev, once known as Samara, is
near the northern limit of the steppe. It
lies on an eastward bend of the Volga and
is a local commercial center. Huge hydro-
electric projects will irrigate thousands of
acres on the trans-Volga steppe. Near-by oil
fields form a “Second Baku.” The city
numbered 390,267 in 1939. Kuibyshev be-
came the temporary capital when Moscow
was threatened during the Second World
War.

Saratov on the Volga, midway between
these preceding cities, had a population of
375,860 in 1939. Other cities include
Voronezh on the Don, 326,836 in 1939.

The Ural Mountains

The mineral wealth of the Urals has
been known since the fifteenth century.
The earliest developments yielded salt,
silver, and gold ; under Peter the Great, iron
was smelted with the use of charcoal. By
the nineteenth century, the region was also
famous for its gems, semiprecious stones,
gold, and platinum.

Developments under the five-year plans
have been even more spectacular here than
elsewhere. Great metallurgical plants have
provided the base for heavy industry.
Mining now includes coal, oil, iron, copper,
gold, platinum, silver, nickel, aluminum,
manganese, asbestos, lead, zinc, magne-
sium, chromium, potash, salt, and orna-
mental building stones. No part of the
Soviet Union is so richly mineralized.
Agriculture is of lesser importance but
provides the materials for flour mills and
leather tanning. The Urals are now the
country’s second industrial base, well
removed from any frontier. But for their
development, the Union might not have
been able to carry on in the war against
Germany.

Within the Ural region are eight industrial
cities which had in excess of 100,000 people
in 1939. Sverdlovsk, formerly Ekaterinburg,
with 425,544 people and Chelyabinsk, 273,-
127 people, are key centers for mining and
manufacturing on the eastern side of the
mountains. The former has a copper
smelter, new blast furnaces, and very large
works for heavy machines, while the latter
mines lignite and manufactures tractors.
Molotov, formerly Perm, 255,196, and
Ufa, 245,863, are old cities in the western
hills, less affected by mining. Nizhni Tagil
and Magnitogorsk are giant steel centers
in the central mountains, with important
railway car shops at the former. The latter
grew from nothing in 1929 to 145,870 in
1939.

Railways cross the central Urals at
Nizhni Tagil, Sverdlovsk, and Chelyabinsk;
and the south Urals at Orsk and Aktiu-
binsk, with another line west of Magnito-
gorsk. North-south lines parallel the
mountains on either side. Several railroads
are electrified.

The Urals are an old range, worn down
to rounded hills. In the north the structure
continues to the islands of Nova Zemlya,
not included in the geographical region;
while in the south the Mogudjar Hills
extend to the Aral Sea. As here considered,
the Urals have an extent of 1,500 miles,
with a maximum width of 325 miles in the
latitude of Sverdlovsk.

On either side of the central crystalline
and metamorphic core are geosynclines of
upper Paleozoic sedimentaries. Extensive
folding and thrusting from the east have
complicated the structure. Volcanic intru-
sions accompanied the deformation and
brought many of the ores. The major fold-
ing occurred in the Permian, after which
the mountains were worn down to a pene-
plain and reuplifted in the Tertiary.

In terms of structure, the Urals have a
threefold division. Along the east is a

336

Regions of Soviet Europe

E3 COAL FIELDS

IRON AND STEEL MILLS

MACHINE BUILOlNiG

■

COAL MINES

F«

IRON ORE

MANGANESE

ASBESTOS

BAUXITE

GOLD

CHROMIUM

COPPER

POTASSIUM

LEAD AND ZINC

NICKEL

PLATINUM

OIL

« — »

ANNUAL FLOW OF ORE

ANNUAL FLOW OF COAL

IN METRIC TONS

►

300.000-1.500.000

I,500p00- 3.000.000

^ 3i300.000- 6.000.000
6.0OQOO0* I2JDOO.OOO

Few mountain ranges in the world have the mineral wealth of the Urals. This region became the industrial heart
of the Union during the Second World War. {Data from *'Greai Soviet World Ailast^ 1937.)

The Ural Mountains

337

peneplained surface which bevels the folded
sedimentaries and intrusives at elevations
around 750 feet; in the center the crystal-

The author standing at the monument in the
central Urals that marks the boundary between
Europe and Asia.

line core and intensely overthrust sedi-
mentaries form the main mountain range;
while the western section is a dissected
plateau from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in eleva-
tion, developed on the gently folded rocks
of the larger geosyncline. From north to
south there is a fourfold division. The
northern Urals are the highest and rise to
6,202 feet in Mt. Narodnaya. The central
Urals are mere hills, under 1,000 feet where
crossed by the railway opposite Sverdlovsk.
Farther south elevations reach 5,376 feet
in Mt. Yoman-Tau. Beyond the Ural
River the Mogudjar Hills lie below 1,800
feet. »

Climatic conditions are rigorous. Sverd-
lovsk has a July average of 63®F. and a
January average of 1.7°F., with an annual

20 «

» 0 *

rainfall of 17 inches. Higher elevations and
west slopes receive more precipitation.
Yearly averages at Sverdlovsk, Nizhni
Tagil, Chelyabinsk, and Perm are all below
35°F. Average temperatures below freezing
last 171 days at Sverdlovsk, starting
October 19.

Vegetation zones grade from desert and
steppe in the south through forest north
of Magnitogorsk to tundra in the Arctic
and on mountain summits. Where the forest
has been cleared, the land is used for hay
and pasture.

The Urals lack suitable metallurgical
fuel. Charcoal is still used but is inadequate.
Noncoking coal is available at Kizel and
brown coal at Chelyabinsk. Prewar coal
need^ amounted to 20 million tons of which
half was brought from Kuznets or Kara-
ganda in central Siberia. Oil is produced
around Sterlitamak in the west. There are
few hydroelectric developments.

Iron ore is the prime resource, with
large deposits of magnetite near Nizhni
Tagil, Zlatoust, and Magnitogorsk. Blast
furnaces of very large dimensions operate
at the first and last cities, and at Sverd-

338

Regions of Soviet Europe

lovsk. Some of the old charcoal plants
are still in production in the western hills.
Manganese is present but is too high in
phosphorus for satisfactory use. Iron
production in the Urals amounted to
2,600,000 tons in 1937.

The problem of the metal industries here
as elsewhere is that many exploited deposits
are of inferior quality or are remotely
located with respect to fuel or markets.
For example, Magnitogorsk ore now ap-
pears less rich in iron and higher in sulphur
than anticipated. Elsewhere the ore is
titaniferous. The country urgently needs

copper and, although the Urals have large
smelters, the ore is unsatisfactory. The same
is true of aluminum. Overambitious and
overlarge plants, a product of the megalo-
mania expressed in much early planning,
have involved management difficulties.
The significant fact is that despite all diffi-
culties, socialist enthusiasm has achieved
a noteworthy production; whether some
ores are of too low grade to justify exploita-
tion is a question that remains to be
answered in a closed economy. In national-
istic terms, the war has justified their
development.

Chapter 20

REGIONS OF SOVIET MIDDLE ASIA

The southern regions of the Soviet Union Russian conquests of the nineteenth cen-
on either side of the Caspian are areas of tury, this part of Eurasia, with long-stand-
young mountains and deserts, so distinct ing oriental contacts, belonged to Persia.

A village in the Caucasus with its ancient watchtowers. Many of the ethnic groups preserve their distinctive

architecture. {Sovfoto.)

in climate and culture that they deserve
separate treatment. Since most of the area
lies northwest of the Pamirs, the name
Middle Asia is somewhat of a misnomer,
but follows Russian usage. The Caucasus
are often grouped with the “ continent
of Europe, but this is merely a reflection
of current political boundaries. Prior to the

Still earlier, Tamerlane ruled both Samark-
and and Tbilisi, or Tiflis.

Caucasia

Caucasia is a world in itself. The region
between the Black and Caspian seas com-
prises the alpine mountains and valleys
from the Turkish frontier to the Kuban-

340

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

Manych Plain. The mountains are geologi-
cally young but their human history is
old, whereas with the Urals the reverse is

and the same structures '^reappear in
Crimea. In the south the Lesser Caucasus
Range includes part of the high Armenian

Batumi

Elevation, 20 feet; average temperature, 57.7®F.;
total precipitation, 93.3 inches.

JFMAMJJASOND

Baku

Elevation, 0 feet; average temperature, 57.9®F.; total
precipitation, 9.5 inches.

true. Serving both as a bridge and a barrier
to migration, this region has a long and
dramatic history. Across its passes are
major trade routes known to Assyrians and
Romans. In the mountains cultures have
been cradled and found their grave.

Some thirty nationalities live in the re-
gion, many of them with picturesque native
dress. These include Azerbaidzhanians,
Georgians, Armenians, Russians, Ossetians,
Abkhazians, Ajariaiis, Greeks, Kurds, and
Jews. Bitter animosities have been the rule.
This is the home of Joseph Stalin, a
Georgian.

Three union republics lie south of the
main range, but the geographic region
also includes the north slopes within the
Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Re-
publics. From west to east these are the
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, the
Armenian S.S.R., and the Azerbaidzhanian
S.S.R. The entire area is about 80,000
square miles, only 1 per cent of the Union,
and the population is nearly 10 million -

Caucasia includes three mountain ranges.
The Greater Caucasus extends from the
Caspian near Baku 685 miles northwest
to the Black Sea beyond Novorossisk,

Plateau, largely in Turkey. Connecting
these chains in the center are the low
Suram Mountains. Between the main
ranges are valleys that drain to the Black
and Caspian seas. In the west is the Rion
Valley and Colchis lowland, while the Kura
River drains the eastern Iberian lowland.

In the Greater Caucasus folded Paleozoic
formations occur in the center, together
with extensive igneous rocks towards the
west, but the flanks are made up of
Jurassic and Tertiary beds. Folding oc-
curred in the Cenozoic and was accom-
panied by extensive igneous activity. The
highest mountain is volcanic Mt. Elbrus,
18,468 feet, which exceeds anything in
Europe. Considerable areas are above the
snow line, and there are 1,400 glaciers. The
topography is superbly rugged. Serious
earthquakes occur several times a century.

The connecting Suram Range is a granite
massif which forms the watershed between
the Rion and Kura rivers. There are passes
as low as 3,280 feet.

The Lesser Caucasus is a block-faulted
highland with numerous dormant vol-
canoes, generally from 6,000 to 10,000 feet.
Lake Sevan lies in the center. Just across

Caucasia

341

the border in Turkey is volcanic Mt. Ararat, cultivated area has been expanded by
16,916 feet. draining swamplands in the Colchis low-

Climate and vegetation vary abruptly land and by irrigation in the Iberian low-

A tea plantation in the Georgian Republic near Batumi. A great expansion of subtropical crops has taken place
in this area of Mediterranean climate. {Sovfoto.)

with altitude and exposure. The Black Sea
littoral has Mediterranean subtropical con-
ditions with 93 inches of rainfall at Batumi.
The arid Caspian shore at Baku receives
but 9 inches and has an annual temperature
of 57®F. with mild winters and hot sum-
mers. The Greater Caucasus stop cold
northerly winds, while the Suram Range
blocks moisture from the west. Snow-
capped mountains are seen through palm
trees, while deserts and swamps are not
far apart. The interior lowlands are similar
to the northern Balkans, and along the
Black Sea conditions resemble the French
Riviera, whereas mountain climates dupli-
cate Nova Zemlya. Deciduous forests
cover the lower slopes, followed by conifers
and meadows. The flora is exceptionally
rich, including 6,000 varieties of flowers.
Seifriz has remarked that “plants, like
people, seemed to have stopped here in
their migratory journeys.”

Agriculture is noted for the variety of
subtropical products. Corn is an old crop,
but the area of cotton, grapes, tobacco,
and fruits has been greatly extended, and
new crops added such as tea, citrus fruits,
tung oil, cork oak, bamboo, and flax. The

land. Wool and hides are produced in the
highlands. In western Georgia, the area
under tea increased from 2,400 acres in 1917
to 111,640 in 1937, with a production of
nearly 5,000,000 pounds. In the same period
orange and lemon groves rose from 395 to

25.000 acres. Occasional frosts are a
hazard. Caucasian wines have long been
famous.

Petroleum has been produced on the
Apsheron Peninsula at Baku since 1863.
In 1901, Baku supplied half the world out-
put and still accounts for 70 per cent of the
Soviet production. There are two pipe
lines to Batumi, but most of the oil is
shipped by Caspian tankers to the Volga, sp
that Baku is the first seaport of the entire
U.S.S.Il. Considerable oil is also produced
along the northern foot of the Caucasus
near Grozny and Maikop.

Manganese deposits at Chiatury are
exceptionally rich, with a production of

1.650.000 metric tons in 1937. Ore is
shipped from Poti on the Black Sea to
western Europe and the United States.

There are coal mines at Tkvarcheli and
Tkvibuli. Hydroelectric possibilities are
extensive, especially on the outlet from

S42

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

Lake Sevan. Small developments include In southern Crimea the mountains de-
copper, molybdenum, arsenic, and tung- scend abruptly to the Black Sea and pro-
sten. Salt is obtained from the Caspian, tect the coast from cold northern winds.

The governmeiil house in Tbilisi, capital of the Georgian Soviet Socialistic Republic. (Sovfoto.)

Mineral waters are bottled along the Although at latitude 45° N., the shore is a
northern foothills. winter resort of some fame. Charming

Three cities exceeded 100,000 in 1939, villas surround the city of Yalta,
each the capital of its republic. Baku domi- ^
nates Azerbaidzhan, with a 1939 popula- ^ Desert

tion of 809,347, fifth city of the Union. Oil The Caspian Sea occupies the lowest
refining is the chief industry. Tbilisi, part of a vast area where no runoff reaches
formerly spelled Tiflis, lies in the center of the ocean. Were rainfall more abundant or
Transcaucasia on the upper Kura River, evaporation less, the basin would be filled
and is the capital of the Georgian S.S.R. to overflowing. During the more humid
Its population in 1939 was 519,175. The glacial period, the enlarged Caspian drained
city was founded fifteen centuries ago and westward to the Black Sea with an outlet
has numerous light industries. Erevan is at an elevation of 150 feet, whereas the
the capital of Armenia, with 200,031 people surface is now 85 feet below sea level,
in 1939. On the north slope of the Caucasus Seventy per cent of the water intake of
are Grozny, Ordzhonikidze, Kislovodsk, the Caspian comes from the Volga, and 19
and Maikop. per cent from direct precipitation. All of

A Kalmuk yurt in the steppes near Astrakhan, north of the Caspian Sea. Wherever possible, individual nomad-
ism has been replaced by collective farming or grazing.

at present, while in 1845 it was 2 feet lower.
Proposed diversions of Volga water near
Kuibyshev will further lower ^the level.
To balance this loss, it is possible that
part of the Amu Darya may be diverted
through an ancient bed from near the
Aral Sea to the Caspian.

Attempts to correlate the fluctuating
levels of the Caspian and Aral seas with
ancient civilizations are confusing. The
Caspian level rises with cool wet summers
along the Volga, whereas the Aral Sea
level depends on melting snow in the
Pamirs, with the most runoff during hot
dry summers.

Surrounding the Caspian Sea is a desert
of limited usability. Much of it is covered
with Quaternary sand and clay laid down
by the expanded sea and reworked by the
wind.

Since the Caspian Desert is invaded
during the winter by cold air masses, tem-
peratures drop to — in the Volga delta
and the river is frozen for 112 days. During

Rainfall is from 4 to 12 inches, as com-
pared with annual evaporation from a
free-water surface amounting to 48 to 60
inches and from irrigated soil of 34 inches.
Even the Volga and Ural diminish in size
as they flow southward while in the winter
the water of the Emba entirely evaporates
before reaching the sea.

Agriculture is limited to strips of irriga-
tion along the rivers. A few wandering
nomads, Mongols or Kalmuks, raise sheep
and camels. Fishing is very important in
the northern Caspian, especially for stur-
geon and caviar.

Three minerals are of importance. Oil is
produced from salt domes along the Emba
River under conditions resembling the
Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. A pipe
line runs 526 miles from Gurev on the coast
through the Emba fields to Orsk in the
southern Urals, with a possible extension
east to Omsk.

Borax and other minerals are secured
from rich deposits at.Inder Lake, where the

S44

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

production of borax compounds amounts to
80,000 tons and places the U.S.S.R. second
to the United States in world output.

At the eastern side of the Caspian is
Kara-Bogaz Gulf, enclosed except for a
shallow entrance 400 feet wide. This bay
receives no rivers, and evaporation is so
great that the water contains 29 per cent
of salts. Mirabilite, or sodium sulphate, is
precipitated naturally and other chemicals
are extracted.

The principal city of the region is
Astrakhan, on a distributary of the Volga..
The population in 1989 numbered 253,655.
The city has fish canneries and woodwork-
ing industries based on timber rafted down
the Volga. Oil is the major import, but
extensive sand bars make it necessary for
Caspian tankers to unload into barges
from which oil is transferred to river
steamers at Astrakhan. Extensive dredging
is proposed.

Pamirs and Associated Ranges

Soviet frontiers reach into the Pamirs
and the great ranges that radiate from
the roof of the world. Within the region
are the Union’s two highest peaks, ap-
propriately named Mt. Stalin, 24,584 feet,
and Mt. Lenin, 22,377 feet. The second
was originally thought to be the higher,
and its name was changed from Kaufmann
to Lenin, but corrected elevations showed
the former Mt. Garbo to be of greater
height and it was then renamed Mt. Stalin.
The mountains form a continuous rampart
between the Amu Darya and the Dzungar-
ian Gate, a distance of a thousand miles,
and also include an outlier near the Caspian.

The structure of the numerous ranges
is involved. The Pamirs are a mountainous
plateau, mostly over 12,000 feet, with
broad valleys five to ten miles wide cut by
deep canyons and surrounded by rocky
mountains. They lie between the Amu
Darya and the Syr Darya.

The Tien Shan, or heavenly mountains,
so named from their extension into China,
lie north of the Pamirs. Within the Soviet
Union the range occupies the area between
the Syr Darya and Hi River. Huntington
has described the Tien Shan as a plateau,
with mountain structures and once with
mountain form but long ago reduced to
old-age flatness and only recently reuplifted.
Erosion has thus been revived, especially
around the margins.

This region is the most active earth-
quake area in the Union. From 1885 to
1932, there were 24 shocks with an intensity
over six.

Despite their distance from the sea,
enormous glaciers descend from these
ranges, notably the 48-mile Fedchenko
glacier near the Trans-Alai Range.

The climate is generally dry, with long
periods of clear weather. Forests are
limited to favored exposures with grass
above and below. These upper and lower
meadows are used for grazing sheep,
horses, and cattle, with seasonal migration
up and down the slopes. Lowland villages
may be almost deserted during the summer
while the flocks are on the upper slopes.
While on the move, shepherds live in
round felt-covered kibitkas, similar to
Mongolian yurts. Agriculture is restricted
to the lower valleys and usually depends
on irrigation. Many of the canals are very
old. Extensive upland areas are a cold
desert, in contrast to the hot deserts of
the lowlands.

Climatic limitations on agriculture in-
crease with altitude, as shown in the
Zeravshan Valley, where rice is cultivated
to 4,000 feet, corn to 4,300 feet, peaches
to 4,500 feet, grapes to 5,900 feet, millet to
6,400 feet, apricots to 6,900 feet, and
barley to 8,200 feet.^

^ Bero, L. S., “The Natural Regions of the
U.S.S.R.,” Moscow and I^eningrad (1937), 132.

345

Oases of Southern Turan

Two republics lie in these mountains. New automobile roads make the area
the Kirghiz S.S.R. in the east, and the more accessible. One leads from Frunze,
Tadzhik S.S.R. to the south. In 1939, the capital of the Kirghiz Republic, past Lake

Folk dancing in the mountains of the Tadzhik Republic. Soviet policy has encouraged the preservation and
development of minority cultures. {Sovfoto.)

former had a population of 1,459,301
while the latter had 1,485,091. Many of
these people live in lowland valleys or
bordering oases, to be considered in the
following region.

Ancient caravan routes cross these
mountains, though the passes are blocked
by snow in winter. One famous route,
followed by Marco Polo, leads over the
Terek pass to the Tarim Basin in China’s
westernmost province of Sinkiang, others
go to Kashmir in northern India and to
Afghanistan. Two historic routes farther
north connect the Lake Balkhash area
with Dzungaria in northwest China. One
follows the Hi Valley, but the more famous
is the Dzungarian Gate, a 46-mile gorge
only 1,060 feet above sea level.

Issyk Kul and Naryn over the Tien Shan
to Osh at the head of the Fergana Valley;
passes exceed 12,000 feet. A second extends
southward from Osh over a 9,850-foot
pass in the Pamirs to Khorog on the
Afghan frontier.

Oases of Southern Turan

From the Caspian to the frontiers of
China and from the Pamirs to the borders
of the agricultural land south of the Trans-
Siberian, lie a million square miles of
arid and semiarid lowland. Much of it is
uninhabitable desert except where moun-
tain-nourished streams turn the waste
into a garden. Within this area are two
major geomorphic divisions, the Turan

S46

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

Lowland in the south, and the Kazakh midst of imreclaimed desert. Any regional
Upland farther north. In terms of land boundary of the Turan Oases must include
use there are two geographic regions: the much barren land. Economic character-

The intake works for the Ferghana Canal which diverts water from the Syr Darya for the cotton fields of the

Uzbek and Tadzhik republics. (Sovfoto.)

Aral-Balkhash Deserts and the Oases of
Southern Turan.

Since the recognized homeland of the
Turkmenians is confined to the southwest
corner of Turan, the name Turkestan
can no longer be applied to all of Soviet
Middle Asia. Likewise the Kirghiz live in
the mountains rather than in what has been
called the Kirghiz Steppe in Kazakhstan.

This is an ancient land of great individ-
uality and unusual history. For thousands
of years, the struggle against aridity has
dominated all of life and has concentrated
settlement in the oases. Rainfall is quite
inadequate for agriculture, so that cul-
tivation depends upon irrigation from
mountain streams fed by melting snow.
Each river has its local settlements in the

istics appear more significant than car-
tographic continuity.

The oases here considered follow the
foothills from Mari, formerly Merv, in
the west to Tashkent in the east. Other
oases are so detached that they are best
grouped with the desert region to follow.
Mari is the chief settlement along the
Murgab Valley, and one of the oldest
cities of interior Asia. On the Amu Darya
is Chardzhou, famed for the sweetness
of its melons, with' other towns upstream.
Farther east is the historic Zeravshan
Valley with the ancient cities of Bukhara
and Samarkand, the latter with a popula-
tion of 134,346 in 1939. Samarkand is
especially famous for the monumental
buildings that date from Tamerlane. The

347

Oases of Southern Turan

upper Syr Darya waters the largest oasis
of all in the valley of Fergana, surrounded
by high mountains except for a six-mile
opening on the west. The valley is 180
miles long by 100 miles wide, and supports
the cities of Leninabad, formerly Khojent,
Fergana, Khokand, and Osh. This is
one of the most densely populated areas
in the U.S.S.R., with an elaborate irrigation
system. Tashkent lies on a tributary of
the Syr Darya, the Chirchik; upstream
is Chimkent. Tashkent is the industrial
metropolis of Soviet Middle Asia with
585,005 people in 1939.

After these streams leave the mountains,
they receive no tributaries and grow
progressively smaller through seepage,
evaporation, and diversion for irrigation.
Most of the small streams that enter the
Fergana Valley never reach the Syr
Darya. Even the sizable Zeravshan withers
in the desert without entering the Amu
Darya. No progressive climatic change is
suggested since the river did not reach the
Amu even in the fourth century b.c.
Although rainfall is at a minimum in
summer, melting snow and glaciers make
this the season of maximum flow.

The volume of water and the irrigated
area of the chief streams are shown in
the accompanying table. ^ Ten acre-feet
per acre are needed for satisfactory
irrigation.

River

Annual
discharge in
acre-feet

Irrigated

acreage

Amu Darya

53,200,000

1,100,000

Zeravshan

4,160,000

980,000

Syr Darya

15,000,000

2,190,000

Chirchik

7,120,000

480,000

Most oases occupy alluvial fans between
the mountains and the desert, at eleva-

^ Davis, Artijur P., Irrigation in Turkestan, Civil
Engineering (19S2), II, 2.

tions from 1,000 to 1,500 feet above sea
level. Rainfall is slightly higher than on the
plains and ground water more abundant.

Tashkent

Elevation, 1610 feet; average temperature, 56.1®F.;
total precipitation, 14.7 inches.

so that there is a thin carpet of grass. As
dust storms have swept across the desert
through the centuries, silt has become
trapped among this vegetation. This wind-
borne dust is the loess, the basis of ex-
tremely fertile soils.

The continentality of the climate is
shown in the range between January and
July means of over 55°F. for every station
except Samarkand. July temperatures at
Termez near Bukhara are the highest in
the Union, with a maximum of 122°F. and
an average of 89.6°F. At Repetek, the sand
temperature reached 174®F. on July 20,
1915. Thanks to the dry air, nights are
cool. Cloudless summer skies increase the
sugar content of grapes, melons, and
apricots. Winters are severely cold, with
temperatures sometimes near those of
Leningrad. Since the edge of invading
Siberian air masses is thin, cities on the
plain may have lower temperatures than
near-by mountains. The snow cover is
light but persists for a month.

The precipitation is low and erratic.
Tashkent averages 14.7 inches, which is

348

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

considerably more than many stations. At are important since their sugar content is
Bukhara and Chardzhou the rainfall drops greatly increased under conditions of desert
to 4 inches. Summers and fall are driest. irrigation. These oases have long been

A village in the cotton area of the Kazakh Republic. (Sotfoto.)

Many irrigation canals are centuries old
and have been considerably expanded by
new engineering works under the five-year
plans. This is especially true in Fergana
where water is brought to the dry side of
the valley. Some of the ancient canals are
underground tunnels, known as karez,
or kanats, similar to those in Iran and
Sinkiang.

Cotton is the chief crop and has been
since the American Civil War when de-
creased supplies gave Russia the impetus
to produce her own needs. The yield did
not reach prerevolutionary output until
after 1930; of the cultivated acreage cotton
now occupies two-thirds. Wheat, rice, and
barley are the chief grains. Increasing
amounts of cotton and some silk are woven
in Middle Asia instead of being shipped
to the Moscow textile area. Sugar beets

renowned for their very fine fruit, such as
apricots, peaches, cherries, plums, apples,
melons, and grapes. The latter are dried
as raisins.

Although mining has not been significant,
considerable developments are under way.
The Fergana Valley contains fair coal and
some oil. The near-by mountains have
copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and arsenic.
Hydroelectric power is used to develop
phosphate fertilizers. A steel mill was built
at Tashkent during the Second World War.

Ancient crafts include the weaving of
carpets, preparation of fur and leather,
metal work, pottery, and the manufacture
of saddles. Keen rivalries between the
wandering nomads and sedentary oasis
dwellers, as well as between rival oases,
have often brought raids and. destruction.
Each oasis has its own history.

Oases of Southern Turan 349

Samarkand lies on the Zeravshan River, turquoise blue. At the beginning of the
whose water is so valuable that the name eighteenth century when there were almost
means “gold spreading.” The city’s origin no inhabitants, the city fell under Chinese

The Registan Square in Samarkand is bordered on three sides by mosques, attached to each of which was
a Mohammedan college. The facades are elaborately adorned with mosaics in brilliant shades of blue. The
mosque to the left was built in 1484 by lllug-beg, prince of astronomers and grandson of Tamerlane. When
visited by the author in 1944 extensive restoration was in progress here and elsewhere in Samarkand. {Courtesy
Samarkand Museum.)

is unknown, but it has been “a sparkling control. Raiders from the deserts or moun-
jewel enticing the hearts of Kings through tains have often destroyed Samarkand,
the ages.” Alexander the Great plundered which has been as often rebuilt,
the city in 329 B.c. In the eighth century it These oases are steppingstones along the
was the center of Arab culture, and in the ancient caravan route of inner Asia. This
thirteenth century was conquered by highway from Peking to the Mediter-
Genghiz Khan. When Tamerlane made it ranean followed the foot of the mountains
his capital in 1370, he built the brilliantly from one river to another and was in use
decorated mosques, tombs, and other long before the days of Marco Polo and
buildings that still stand. Surrounding the recorded history. Along it flowed silk, furs,
central square, or Registan, are the monu- and art goods from China and India to
mental buildings of three ancient colleges, , Greece and Rome and Roman Britain,
each decorated with enameled tiles of At Samarkand, Bukhara, and Merv, mer-

350

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

chants of the Orient met traders of the places but half that figure. Where it
Occident. reaches 12 inches in the north, some pre-

The Oases of Southern Turan are in- carious dry farming is attempted.

The building to the right is a motion-picture theater in Tashkent. {Sovfoto.)

habited by a wide variety of races, includ-
ing Turkomens, Uzbeks, Persians, Tajiks,
Kirghiz, Sarts, and Russians. The latter
are newcomers, for Tashkent was not
occupied until 1866 nor Bukhara till 1873.

It is difficult to evaluate current develop-
ments, because few outsiders have been
permitted to study the region objectively
since before the First World War. Sensitive
frontier problems have made this true for a
century. Even the 1914 Baedeker states
that “Foreigners are not allowed to visit
Turkestan except by special permission of
the Russian Government. The traveler
must send in his request ... at the latest
six months before the beginning of his
journey.”

Aral-Balkhash Deserts

Here aridity dominates. The annual
precipitation averages but 8 inches, in

During the winter when the region is
exposed to cold Siberian air, the average
January temperature drops below freezing.
The delta of the Amu Darya has recorded
— 14°F. In contrast to the imported winter
weather, summer temperatures are the
result of local insolation. Day and night
temperatures in July average 80 to 85®F.,
which is hotter than the tropics.

Many rivers enter the region, but only a
few have enough water to cross the desert
and those which do so end in salt lakes or
playas. Whereas normal rivers in humid
lands gain water from tributaries and flow
in valleys, these streams lose water, become
overloaded with sediment, and flow on their
flood plain. Sand bars and shifting channels
make navigation difficult.

Although northern Kazakhstan has over
5,000 lakes, many of them are ephemeral.
The major water bodies are the Aral Sea

Aral-Balkhash Deserts

351

Wool is an important product in Middle Asia. These sheep are on a collective farm in the Tadzhik Republic.

(Sovfoto.)

352

Regions of Soviet Middle Asia

and Lake Balkhash. The former stands
next to the Caspian as the second largest
body of water in the Old World. A large
part is only 30 to 60 feet deep, and the area
fluctuates. Western Lake Balkhash is fresh-
ened by waters of the lii River, while the
eastern portion is salt from evaporation.

Within the region are several areas where
geologic hislory, altitude, or climate intro-
duces minor differences. The Kara Kum
and Kizil Kum are sandy deserts on either
side of the Amu Darya. Some of the shifting
sand areas are said to be due to the destruc-
tion of the blanket of sparse vegetation
by overgrazing or cultivation. Near the
Syr Darya is the Golodnaya Steppe,
slightly higher and more moist. The Bedpak
Dala or Hunger Steppe lies north of the
Chu River, while on the south shore of Lake
Balkhash is the Semireche Steppe. In the
north, the Kazakh Hills are a peneplained
mountain range, often incorrectly termed
the Kirghiz Steppe.

The soil is generally unleached serozem,
a gray desert soil, with local salty or alka-
line soils where ground water is close
enough to the surface to permit evaporation
of capillary moisture. The most prominent
vegetation is the bushy saxaul.

Kazakhstan reported nine million cattle

in 1936, some of which were in the agricul-
tural region to the north. Most of the
people live in oases, similar to those
described in the previous region. Most
nomads have now been collectivized. Hides,
wool, meat, and grain are important ex-
ports. Astrakhan sheep are raised in the
south. Great agricultural developments
took place during the war with labor sup-
plied by farmers evacuated from Soviet
Europe.

The discovery of mineral wealth has
brought local mining developments, as at
Karaganda, now the Union’s third most
important coal producer. Near the northern
shore of Lake Balkhash is a great copper
mine at Kounrad, with another develop-
ment to the west at Djezkazgan. Sulphur
is obtained north of Ashkhabad and lead at
Chimkent near Tashkent.

The chief cities outside the semicontinu-
ous oases belt are Ashkhabad in the south-
west, capital of Turkmenia; Novo Urgench
and Khiva on the lower Amu Darya;
Frunze and Alma-Ata, capitals of the
Kirghiz and Kazakh republics; Kazalinsk
on the lower Syr Darya; Kounrad and its
smelter town of Balkhash; and the coal
city of Karaganda, population 165,937
in 1939.

Chapter 21'

REGIONS OF SOVIET SIBERIA

Within Siberia are 5 million square
miles of northern Asia, much of it moun-
tainous or relatively inaccessible. Per-
manently frozen ground underlies 3%
million square miles. Here is the world’s
greatest forest outside the equatorial selva,
and the largest coal deposits outside North
America. The Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Amur
are among the world’s eight longest rivers.

But these details are only an introduction
to Siberia. This is the last great pioneering
land outside the tropics, and into it the
Russians have gone and are going by the
millions. Much of the thrill that char-
acterizes Soviet socialism is associated
with the cultivation of virgin land, the
development of new mines and industries,
the construction of new railways, and the
growth of cities in Siberia. The environ-
ment places restrictions on the limits
to which man may develop this land,
but the potentialities are still enormous.

Transport is no longer limited to north-
flowing rivers or to a single railway. The
Trans-Siberian is double tracked, and the
total railway mileage east of the Urals
more than doubled in the interwar period.
Airplane service has opened the north.

Under the three five-year plans more
happened in Siberia than during the entire
period since the Cossack leader Yermak
crossed the Urals in 1580 and captured
the village of Sibir on the Irtysh. Between
1914 and 1933, the population rose from
10,400,000 to 25,636,900, while cultivated
land increased from 32,058 to 97,949
square miles. Siberia has 15 per cent of

the Union’s people and 12 per cent of the
cultivated area.

West Siberian Agricultural Region

The surveyors who laid out the Trans-
Siberian Railway toward the close of the
nineteenth century proved to be practical
geographers, for they placed it along
what has become the continuation of the
agricultural triangle. The railway alter-
nately runs through the rich chernozem
steppe and the forest.

The colonization of Siberia dates from
1580. Early settlers kept within the empty
forest or along the northern edge of the
steppe to avoid conflict with nomadic
Mongol tribes.

The West Siberian Agricultural Region
is one of the flattest areas on earth. Along
the railway one travels 1,200 miles from
the Urals to the Yenisei scarcely seeing a
hill. For hours the landscape is as monot-
onous as an ocean voyage. The only
vantage points are church spires or grain
elevators. Much of the area is covered
with Quaternary continental deposits, be-
neath which are Tertiary marine sediments.
Vast glacial lakes left sediments that
add to the flatness. Even the folded lands
of the Kazakh Hills have been worn down
to low relief and gentle slopes. In the
steppeland south of the railway are
countless thousands of shallow depressions,
sometimes filled with lakes, which ap-
parently represent wind scour during a
period of greater aridity.

354

Regions of Soviet Siberia

Great annual variations characterize
the temperature. Winter snowfall is light,
but bitter blizzards pile it into formidable

Tomsk

Elevation, 390 feet; average temperature, 30.4®F.;
total precipitation, 19.9 inches.

drifts that disrupt railway traffic. Half the
year is below freezing, for average tem-
peratures fall below that point in mid-
October to remain until mid-April. The
short summers have days that are uncom-
fortably warm, but temperatures exceed
68®F. for only a month. Precipitation is
from 12 to 18 inches, chiefly in the summer.

This is the Asiatic continuation of two
areas west of the Urals, the Central
Agricultural Region of cleared forest with
podsol soils, and the Southern Agricultural
Region of cultivated steppe underlain by
chernozem soils. Both landscapes are
present in western Siberia, although most
agricultural development has taken place
in the steppe where there are no forests to
clear and soils are more fertile. This is
the tapering end of the triangle, pinched
between limitations of cold on the north
and of drought on the south, and limited
eastward by the Altai, Sayan, and Baikal
mountains.

The great crop of the region is spring
wheat, with large amounts of oats, rye.

and barley. Huge grain elevators rise at
every railway station and can be seen
across the plain long before the town comes
in sight. Flour milling is an important
industry. This part of Siberia is an im-
portant cattle country, long famous for
its export of butter. Meat packing is
significant.

Siberian villages have surprisingly little
in the way of commercial activities. Even
settlements of several hundred houses
have no store, for people live a nearly
self-sufficient existence. Log houses are
the rule in the north, replaced by sod
houses where timber is not available.
Each house has a huge brick stove which
occupies nearly a quarter of the kitchen
and which often has a platform on top
where some of the family may sleep during
the winter. Behind each house is usually a
vegetable plot, with a barn for the farmer’s
own cow, pigs, and chickens. The res!
of the cultivated land is collectivized and
worked cooperatively.

Most of Soviet Siberia has a twofold
economic pattern. The rivers provide a
north-south orientation, while the railwaj
is an east-west link. The West Siberian
Agricultural Region is dominated by th<
railway, while the regions of the Ob
Yenisei, and Lena Taiga are river-centered

Where rail and water meet, significant
cities develop. Since the Ob and Irtysl
are the major rivers, Novosibirsk anc
Omsk are the leading cities, with popula
tions in 1939 of 405,589 and 280,716
respectively. Krasnoyarsk on the Yenise
and Tomsk near the Ob follow in com
mercial significance, with 189,999 anc
141,215. Industrialization and urban mod
ernization generally decrease with distanc<
from Moscow.

At these latitudes, rivers tend to b<
deflected to their right by the rotatior
of the earth; accordingly the easterr
bank is often undercut and high, while th<

355

' West Siberian Agricultural Region

other IS low and swampy. Approaching ment rising to 50 feet or more in height,
t e rivers from the west, one finds a Then the river is crossed by a high bridge

Modern apartment buildings line the streets of Novosibirsk in central Siberia.

broad swampy flood plain, miles in width, and the train at once enters a city on the
which the railway crosses on an embank- right bank.

356

Regions of Sonet Siberia

AUai-Sayan Mountains

South central Siberia is bordered by a
continuation of the young mountains

The region is mountainous but is impor-
tant for mineral wealth rather ^an
topography. Here is a third of the country’s
coal, lead, and zinc reserves. Deposits

The development of the Kuznets coal basin in central Siberia was a major achievement of the First Five-
year Plan. Much of the railway mileage within the basin is electrified. {Data from **0r6at Soviet World AUtisf*
1987 .)

which begin in the Caucasus, continue
through the Pamirs and Tien Shan, and
reach to the Arctic. The Altai and Sayan
ranges extend for a thousand miles from
the Dzungarian Gate to near Lake Baikal.
On a purely geologic basis, half the area
lies in Mongolia, but no geographically
meaningful region can ignore a boundary
such as that of the Soviets.

of silver, gold, copper, tin, and manganese
are significant. Water-power possibilities
along the Yenisei are impressive. Although
much of the area is diflSicult of access,
railway lines lead into the mining areas of
Bidder, Kuznets, and Minusinsk.

Both the Altai and the Sayan were
folded in the middle and late Paleozoic,
then after being worn down to essential

Altai-Sayan Mountains

357

peneplains, were again uplifted during the 10,000 feet. East of the Ob lie the eastern
late Tertiary. Metamorphic and intrusive Altai, reaching almost to the Yenisei and
rocks make a sequence difficult to un- formed of two north-south ranges, the

Virgin prairie plowed for the first time in history, in the Minusinsk Basin of the upper Yenisei. {Courtesy

George Bain.)

scramble. The central portions of the
mountains remain rolling uplands above
10,000 feet, comparable to the Pamir and
the Tien Shan, with active dissection on
the margins.

The Altai system has a general north-
west-southeast trend, which continues far
into Mongolia. Several divisions may be
distinguished within the Soviet Union.
The Tarbagatai Range lies between the
Dzungarian Gate and Lake Zaisan on the
Irtysh. Between the Irtysh and Ob are
the Altai Mountains proper, culminating
in Mt. Belukha, 15,154 feet. Six glaciers
radiate from this peak, one of them five
miles long descending to an elevation of
6,400 feet. The snow line is from 8,000 to

Salair and the Kuznets-Alatau, respec-
tively west and east of the Kuznets
Basin.

Around the Minusinsk Basin are the
two ranges of the Sayan system. The
Eastern Sayan, with elevations up to
11,447 feet, is the main range, extending
from Lake Baikal to the Yenisei, with a
southern branch known as the Western
Sayan along the frontier.

Neither the Kuznets nor the Minusinsk
basin is level, and the rolling hills give the
railways long steep grades. Around the
Kuznets Basin is a flat sky line dating
from the Mesozoic; the hilly margins carry
a Tertiary surface, while the valley of the
Tom River is Quaternary.

The Prokopyevsk coal mine in the Kuznets Basin has a capacity of 8»200,000 tons a year. It supplies coke for

the Magnitogorsk steel works in the Urals.

taiga forest of Siberian larch, cedar, fir,
pine, and birch to 6,000 feet or more, fol-
lowed by alpine meadows to the snow line
around 9,000 feet. Exact heights depend
on exposure.

Rainfall at the foot of the mountains
and in the basins does not exceed 10 inches
but increases notably on the upper slopes.
In the western Sayans at 3,840 feet, the
Olenya Creek station receives 47 inches,
whOe in the western Altai, the Andobin
Mine with an elevation of 1,800 feet has
37 inches. Summer is the rainy season, and
the distant Atlantic is the apparent source
of the moisture.

Winter temperature inversions, com-
bined with the thinness of the Siberian cold
air masses, make the highlands a relatively
warm island between the cold plains of
Siberia and Middle Asia. The Minusinsk

— 65.7®F. July temperatures at Minusinsk
average 69°F.

As the steppe grass is usually too short
to be harvested, the original inhabitants
were nomads. They now live in collectivized
villages. Along the upper Tom and Yenisei
rivers a quarter of the lowland is in wheat,
potatoes, and sunflower. Large areas of
virgin prairie are being plowed in the
Minusinsk Basin. The chernozem soil' is
attractive but, with the breaking of the
sod, dust-bowl conditions will develop in
drier years.

Coal is the great mineral resource, with
reserves of 450,658,000,000 metric tons in
the Kuznets Basin, and 20,612,000,000 tons
in the Minusinsk Basin. Along the northern
margins of the region are the Chulym-
Yenisei field with 43,000,000,000 tons, and
the Kansk field with 42,000,000,000 tons.

S59

Oh Taiga

The Cheremkhovo mines west of Irkutsk
also lie next to the Sayan Mountains, with
reserves of 79,000,000,000 tons.

The Kuznets Basin is a closely folded
syncline, with many beds dipping 60 to
80°. The carbon ratio is from 80 to 89 per
cent, with sulphur at 0.5 per cent. Much of
the coal is of coking quality, and some is
suitable for gas and chemical use. Produc-
tion amounted to 774,000 tons in 1913,
2,609,000 tons in 1927, and 16,800,000 tons
in 1938. One mine at Prokopyevsk, com-
pletely electrified and mechanized, has a
capacity of 3,200,000 tons annually. Other
mining centers are Stalinsk, formerly
named Kuznets, Leninsk-Kuznets, Kemer-
ovo, and Anzhero-Sudzhensk.

Coal for urban and railway use is also
mined on a small scale at Chernogorsk near
Minusinsk, and at Cheremkhovo west of
Irkutsk.

Surrounding the Kuznets Basin are
several metal mines. Zinc, gold, and lead
are obtained at Salair. Magnetite iron ore
is mined in the Gornaya Shoria to the
south, formed by metasomatic replacement
of limestone, with an iron content of 45 per
cent, but the high sulphur must be removed
before smelting. Across the mountains in
the Minusinsk Basin is excellent unde-
veloped ore 120 miles southwest of Abakan,
which some day may be utilized with
local coal.

In the metalliferous Altai at Bidder,
southeast of Barnaul, are large lead and
zinc plants, handling 1,000 tons of ore
daily. This area, among the country’s
oldest mining districts, also yields silver,
gold, copper, and tin. Prehistoric people
used bronze tools in their mining operations
here.

Manganese occurs near Achinsk, but
the ore contains only 20 to 25 per cent
manganese in comparison with 50 per cent
at Chiatury and 40 per cent at Nikopol.
The annual output is 100,000 tons of ore.

The development of great steel works
and associated industries in the midst of the
empty Kuznets steppe is one of the major
achievements of the Soviet Union. In 1937,
SO per cent of the iron ore was mined
locally, with the rest from the Urals.
Increasing development of near-by ore,
plus the availability of Karaganda coal
for the Ural plants, tends to make Kuznets
an independent unit rather than paA
of the Ural-Kuznets combine as originally
planned.

Cities with smoking factories rise in the
Kuznets Basin as abrupt and exotic intru-
sions in a treeless land scarcely inhabited
even by nomads before the First World
War. The city of Stalinsk, whose railway
station is still named Kuznets, had 169,538
people in 1939. Near-by Prokopyevsk re-
ported 107,227, while Kemerovo had
132,978. The urban population of the
Kuznets area and near-by Novosibirsk
exceeds 1,000,000.

Ob Taiga

The history of Siberia is the history of her
rivers, modified by railroads during the
present century. Although the major
streams flow across the main line of
travel to the east, early travelers used a
series of portages to link the tributaries
into a water route to the Pacific. The head-
waters of the Kama, a Volga tributary,
cross the Urals; from there it is a short
portage to the tributaries of the Tobol in
the Ob system. The Chulym, which enters
the Ob from the east, flows within six
miles of the Yenisei. By following up a
Yenisei tributary, the Angara, to near Lake
Baikal, one may either cross to the Amur
system or travel via the Lena on toward the
Sea of Okhotsk. The Ob was the first
Siberian river to be developed and still
has better steamers and more freight than
the others.

A vOlage landing on the Yenisei between Krasnoyarsk and Minusinsk. The line of small boats supports the
cable for the characteristic Siberian swing ferry. {Courtesy George Bain.)

elevation is only 308 feet, a slope of only
two inches per mile. Although the plain
continues from the Urals eastward beyond
the Yenisei to the edge of the Central
Siberian Uplands, the geographic region
ends near the left bank of the Yenisei.

The Ob has a length of 3,200 miles and
is joined by the Irtysh which in turn re-
ceives the Ishim and Tobol. The length of
rivers navigable at high water in the Ob
system totals 19,200 miles, of which two-
thirds are in use. Nearly half the freight,
chiefly grain and timber, is carried on the
Irtysh, navigable into Sinkiang. The
river is free from ice 175 days at Tobolsk
and 153 days at Salekhard, formerly
Obdorsk, near the gulf. Near Tobolsk,

mate, Dc in Koeppen symbols. Winters are
long with a considerable snow cover. The
annual precipitation is about 18 inches,
decreasing to 14 inches near the Arctic.

The coniferous forest resembles that of
the Dvina-Pechora Taiga in general, but
lower rainfall, a more severe winter, and
poor drainage change many species. Sibe-
rian fir predominates, mixed with white-
barked trees such as birch and aspen. The
Vasyugan Swamp covers 100,000 square
miles near the junction of the Ob and
Irtysh. Timber is shipped from Salekhard,
usually consigned to Arkhangelsk rather
than abroad. Very large amounts move
upstream to the Trans-Siberian Railway
for urban and industrial needs.

Yeniwi Taiga 361

There are few cities of significance, and with over a million square miles. The river
many place names shown on maps are lies at the latitude of the Mackenzie in
riverside clearings of a few dozen houses. Canada, placing Krasnoyarsk on the paral-

Many of the natives of the Arctic live in birch-bark wigwams during the summer. These are Evenki near
Turukhansk on the Yenisei. {Courtesy Northern Sea Route Administration.)

Large areas are completely without settle-
ment, inaccessible in summer because of
swamps and mosquitoes. Contact with the
rest of the Union is chiefly through cities
to the south where the railway taps the
Ob, Irtysh, or other tributaries.

Yenisei Taiga

From the source of the Yenisei to the
ocean is 2,619 miles, but, if the distance be
measured along its major tributary, the
Angara, and its extensions beyond Lake
Baikal, the length is 3,553 miles. Fourth
among the world’s rivers in length, the
Yenisei ranks seventh in drainage area

lei of Edmonton, and Igarka at the same
distance beyond the Arctic Circle as
Aklavik.

Most of the Yenisei Taiga is within the
Central Siberian Upland, particularly the
Tunguska Platform where hills gradually
rise to an elevation of 4,500 feet along the
Lena divide. From these uplands the
Yenisei receives three major tributaries. In
the south the Verkhne or Upper Tunguska,
commonly called the Angara, flows out of
Lake Baikal. In the middle is the Pod-
kamena or Stony Tunguska, while the
northern tributary is the Nizhni or Lower
Tunguska.

362

Regions of Soviet Siberia

Virgin forest extends from south of an overseas export from the latter city of
the Angara 750 miles northward to beyond 90 million board feet in 1937. In addition
Igarka. This taiga is a trackless expanse to 18 shiploads sent to England, Holland,

Trucks for loading timber at Igarka, the port of the Yenisei. {Courtesy Northern Sea Route Administration.)

of conifers and white woods. Toward the and Germany, three vessels carried lumber
south, and especially along the Angara, from the Yenisei to southeastern Africa,
are splendid stands of commercial pine. Permanently frozen ground underlies
but adverse conditions in the north reduce almost the entire region. Summer heat
the trees to less than a foot in diameter, thaws the ground to a depth of two or
These forests are so vast that only pre- three feet beneath the insulating forest, or
liminary studies have been possible, but as deep as ten feet on cleared ground,
estimates in the Yeniseisk-Igarka area The Tunguska Platform contains enor-
run to 167 billion board feet of lumber, mous reserves of coal, known along the
Conifer reserves along the Angara are rivers and thought to continue between
three times this figure. them. Tentative estimates reach 400 billion

The taiga is usually described as a tons. Local intrusions of trap sheets have
coniferous forest of fir and pine, but air- altered the coal to graphite, mined since
plane flights over the Yenisei reveal that 1862. At Norilsk in the Arctic, nickel,
birch and deciduous softwoods cover a copper, lead, zinc, and coal are mined,
third of the area. The Yenisei system is the great unifier

Sawmills are in operation at Krasnoyarsk, of the region, for all settlement is along
Maklakova, Yeniseisk, and Igarka, with waterways. Four dozen boats operate on

Arctic Fringe

the river, a quarter of them with passenger
accommodations. Regular steamboat lines
operate from the railway at Krasnoyarsk;
going south in three days to Minusinsk,
north in six days to Igarka, and in eight
days to Dudinka. Through most of the
region the river is over a mile in width;
depths exceed 50 feet except in the estuary.

Russians reached the lower Yenisei
via the Arctic in 1610, whereas overland
travelers from Tomsk did not see the
Yenisei until Yeniseisk was established
in 1618.

The most interesting city of the Yenisei
Taiga is also the newest, Igarka, which
provides a sheltered anchorage where
cargoes can be transferred between river
and ocean vessels. Though within the
Arctic Circle, it lies 400 miles inland from
the shallow and stormy estuary. In 1929
Igarka was a settlement with one house
and three people; by 1937 its population
numbered 15,000. The largest lumber
mills east of the Urals cut logs floated
down from the Angara for shipment during
the two-month navigation period in August
and September when the Kara Sea is
open. To keep people healthy, fresh
vegetables are raised in greenhouses and
on open fields. Root crops do well, and
leafy vegetables are reasonably successful,
but grain does not ripen. Four hundred
cows supply fresh dairy products and
animal manure.

Arctic Fringe

Although the Arctic might not appear
the most attractive part of the Soviet
Union, there are few other regions whose
development has met with equal en-
thusiasm. Nearly half the arctic lands
of the earth lie within the U.S.S.R., and
no other country has given so much
attention to the development of northern
latitudes.

363

Interest in northern Siberia and a
possible northeast passage to China dates
from the middle of the sixteenth century
when the Spanish and Portuguese domi-
nated the route around Africa so that the
Dutch and English tried to sail via the
north of Asia. Sebastian Cabot sent out an
expedition in 1553 with instructions to
“use all wayes and meanes possible to
learn how men may passe from Russia
either by land or by sea to Cathaia.’’
Henry Hudson was another who explored
this route, but neither expedition was able
to sail east of Nova Zemlya.

Russian merchant adventurers sailed
to the mouth of the Ob and founded a
trading post in 1608, but the fear of foreign
penetration led the Czar to forbid all
Arctic navigation in 1624. Modern com-
merce reached the Yenisei again under
Nordenskjold in 1875, and in 1878-1879
he made the first voyage to the Pacific.
During the Russo-Japanese War, 22 ships
were sent to the mouth of the Yenisei to
relieve traffic on the railway.

Soviet activities on an extensive scale
date from 1932 when the icebreaker
Sibiriakov made the first voyage from
Arkhangelsk to Vladivostok in a single
season. Under the Northern Sea Route
Administration, regular services operate
to the various rivers and a dozen or
more vessels make the complete transit
each summer. Icebreakers and airplanes
are used in the most difficult areas. Freight
through Kara Sea ports, chiefly Igarka,
increased from 10,000 tons in 1920 to
137,460 in 1935. Lena freight in 1935
amounted to 13,000 tons. Service to the
Kolyma River and points eastward is
usually routed via Vladivostok, with 16,000
tons of freight in 1935. Except for exports
of Yenisei lumber, most goods are con-
signed inward. The 1937 total Arctic
freight amounted to 250,000 tons.

364

Regions of Soviet Siberia

Four groups of islands divide the Soviet reaching its maximum thickness and extent
Arctic into five seas. The chief ports of at the end of April. The Murmansk coast

Reindeer sleds are used for winter travel across the wooded tundra of the northern Yenisei Valley. (Courtesy

Northern Sea Rovie Administration.)

the Barents Sea are Murmansk and remains ice free owing to the Atlantic
Arkhangelsk. Ice forms early in October, drift. To the east of the Barents Sea are

365

Arctic Fringe

the two islands of Nova Zemlya or new
land, separated by the narrow Matochkin
Strait, ice-free for four months but fog-
bound for 19 days each month. Alternate
passages lead north or south of the islands.

The Kara Sea is bounded on the east
by Severnaya Zemlya or north land. Ice
forms a month earlier and persists a
month longer than in the Barents Sea.
Both the Ob and the Yenisei have broad
estuaries with sand bars where the depth
of water is 16 and 23 feet, respectively.
On the Ob, the chief river port is Salekhard,
but most ocean vessels must unload at
Novi Port in the estuary, where there
is a floating wharf two miles from the shore.
At the mouth of the Yenisei, barren
Dickson Island has a good harbor but
cannot be reached by river boats, so that
transshipment takes place at Igarka. Dud-
inka is also developing a port for near-by
Norilsk coal and nickel.

The Laptev or Nordenskjold Sea occupies
the section from Severnaya Zemlya to
the New Siberian Islands. Its chief port
is Tiksi Bay in the Lena Delta, where a
ten-foot sand bar blocks ocean vessels.
Shipping also calls at Nordvyk on the
Khatanga River where there is a small
'production of salt and petroleum.

The East Siberian Sea is so shallow that
navigation is diflicult. Sand bars at the
mouths of the Kolyma and Indigirka
necessitate transshipment in the open sea.
On the east the sea terminates at Wrangel
Island, around which ice conditions are
the worst of the entire passage. The
Chukchee Sea continues to Bering Strait.

To supplement the steamer services,
an air line was inaugurated in 1940 from
Moscow to Arkhangelsk, Igarka, Tiksi,
and the Chukotsk Peninsula, 4,300 miles
distant.

Even though the navigation period is
short and the hazards considerable, there
is strategic value in a protected route from

Murmansk to Vladivostok. The naval
significance is uncertain, but in comparison
the Russian fleet was obliged to sail

Nentsi Young Pioneers, the Siberian equivalent of
Eskimo Boy Scouts, in the Taimyr Peninsula near the
lower Yenisei River. (Courtesy Northeru Sea Route
Administration . )

around Africa in 1905 and arrived in
Japanese waters quite unprepared for
combat. Like the United States, the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a
two-ocean country and the Northern Sea
Route may even become the Soviets’
Panama Canal.

The Soviet Union claims ownership of
all land in the sector north to the Pole.
In 1937—1938, a scientific station occupied
the North Pole, where the ocean depth
was found to be 14,075 feet.

Wandering hunters and fishermen spend
the summers in birch-bark wigwams along
the streams where they catch and dry fish,
while the winter months are devoted to

366

Regions of Soviet Siberia

trapping. Many Mongoloid peoples are
represented, some of them similar to
nomads who also keep reindeer in the Sayan
Mountains in the south. The names
Samoyed and Tungus were formerly used
for groups who should now be termed
Nentsi and Evenki. Formerly without a
written language, they have been given an
alphabet. Schools, medical centers, and rein-
deer-breeding stations have been provided.

Surface travel across the tundra is
difficult during the brief summer, for there
are innumerable swamps and lakes. Ac-
cording to a native saying, “there are
as many lakes as there are stars in the
sky.”

Normal agriculture is almost impossible,
but most Russian commercial and scientific
outposts have experimental gardens and
greenhouses. On Dickson Island electricity
generated by the wind is used to light and
heat underground greenhouses.

Conditions near the southern margin of
the tundra are illustrated by Dudinka, an
old settlement of 2,500 and the adminis-
trative and commercial center for the
Taimyr Okrug. In 1936, the fur catch was
valued at 4,800,000 rubles, and two tons of
mammoth ivory were shipped. The frost-
free period averages less than 60 days; ih
1937, from June 24 to August 18. The tem-
perature dropped to “42°F. on Feb. 28,
1937, and the monthly average was — 9°F.
Every month has from 64 to 87 per cent
cloudiness. Precipitation amounts to 9
inches, almost entirely in the late summer.

Baikalia

Lake Baikal imposes a barrier to all east-
west travel in southern Siberia. Higli moun-
tains along the near-by Mongolian frontier
force the railway to blast a shelf at the
edge of the water. Farther north the
Stanovoi Mountains continue to the Lena
Valley. When approaching Baikalia from

the west, the Yenisei Ridge and Eastern
Sayan Mountains restrict travel to the
Krasnoyarsk gateway, so that the only
feasible route is by way of Irkutsk.

The lake occupies a graben that makes it
the deepest lake in the world, 5,712 feet.
Surrounding mountains are over a mile
high, so that the fault displacement is
10,700 feet. A severe earthquake in 1861
indicates the sensitive nature of the geol-
ogy. In area, Lake Baikal is in eighth place
among the world’s Inkes, but in volume it
ranks first. The Selenga is the chief of its
tributaries, while the Angara forms the
only outlet.

The geographic region of Baikalia lies
largely to the east of the lake. Con-
fused mountain structures trend north-
east-southwest, and include the Pre-Baikal,
Trans-Baikal, Yablonovi, and Olekminsk-
Stanovik ranges. Much of the region is
formed of crystalline and metamorphic
rocks, with an elevation over a mile.

The climate appears to represent the
furthermost penetration of summer mon-
soon winds from the Pacific. The maximum
temperature of the water in Lake Baikal
is delayed until August, and freezing does
not occur until January. As a result, the
shores have but 90 days below 14°F., while *
there are 140 such days elsewhere nearby.
In summer, the vicinity of Baikal has 70
days with an average of 50° or over, as
compared with 100 such days elsewhere.
Fishing is important.

Most of Baikalia is covered by a pine
forest, with Mongolian-type steppe in the
drier lowlands. Cultivated land totals
1^2 million acres. Many of the people are
Buriats, who specialize in cattle raising.

East of Lake Baikal is coal, and iron is
produced in an enlarged plant at Petrovsk.
The region also has numerous occurrences
of tin, tungsten, zinc, gold, arsenic, and
molybdenum. Prospective developments
center around water power, coal, and iron

naikaiia

Timber on the way to market in Buriat- Mongolia, near Lake Baikal. {Sovfoto.)

Russian villages often extend for a mile or more along a single street, with monotonous unpainted log houses.
This scene in Eastern Siberia might be duplicated in many areas. {Sovfoto.)

S68

Regions of Soviet Siberia

ore west of Irkutsk under the project
known as Angarastroi.

The Trans-Siberian Railway links the

Yakutsk

Elevation, 8S0 feet; average temperature,
total precipitation, 13.7 inches.

three major cities. Irkutsk lies on the
swift-flowing Angara, 44 miles from Lake
Baikal, and had a population of 243,380
in 1939. Ulan-Ude, formerly Verkhne
Udinsk, is at the crossing of the Selenga,
the junction for a railway south to the
Mongolian People’s Republic, and has a
large meat-packing plant. Chita lies near
the railway junction to Manchuria.

Lena Taiga

Two features of the Lena Valley are of
special interest: great gold production and
the new railway north of Lake Baikal.

Gold has been obtained from the rivers
of the northeast for many decades, and
early in the twentieth century was ex-

ploited by a large Britisli concession
named Lena Goldfields. Production greatly
expanded with the discovery of the Aldan
fields in 1923 where placer and lode
deposits contribute a fifth of the country’s
gold. The new town of Aldan, formerly
Nezametny, has a population of 4,000 and
near-by mining camps raise the number of
people in the Aldan district to 40,000. An
automobile road leads south to the Trans-
Siberian Railway at Bolshoi Niever. Bo-
daibo is also an important producer.

The Lena River has long been handi-
capped because its headwaters were not
reached by the Trans-Siberian. Although
the river runs within six miles of Lake
Baikal, rugged mountains intervene. This
has been changed by the construction of
a new railway around the north of Lake
Baikal to the Pacific. Much secrecy sur-
rounded the construction of this Baikal-
Amur Railway because of its military
significance in case of a Far Eastern war.

The climate is the driest and coldest of
any Siberian region yet considered. Pre-
cipitation is from 6 to 12 inches, and
snowfall amounts to little over a foot.
Yearly temperature averages are below
freezing, so that a continental ice sheet
might develop were there enough snow-
fall. There is no evidence of Pleistocene
glaciation. The Lena is frozen at Yakutsk
for 210 days.

On account of the low rainfall, grass-
lands replace the taiga in the lowland
plains of the central Lena and Viloui, with
resulting black soils. Cultivation is only
moderately successful, but 225,000 acres
were sown in 1935. Barley and wheat can
be raised, but hay and vegetables are the
chief crops. Most of the native population
live by fishing, gathering furs, and raising
reindeer.

Navigation on the Lena began when a
steamer was brought from Norway in 1878.
There are now a hundred steamships and

Northeastern Mountains

369

launches. In order to appreciate the size
of this region, it is well to remember that
it is a thousand miles from Kirensk on the
new railway down river to Yakutsk, and
another thousand from there to Tiksi Bay
on the Arctic Ocean. Coal is supplied from
mines at Sangarkhai north of Yakutsk and
at Kangalass. Production amounted to

30.000 tons in 1932 and was to reach

250.000 tons by 1942. Reserves are un-
prospected but probably large.

Yakutsk, the one city of importance,
serves as the capital for the million square
miles of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republic. Founded in 1632, it had
a population of 27,000 in 1935. Like other
Siberian towns, it has broad muddy streets,
plank sidewalks, and one-story log houses,
plus a few old brick buildings. The city is
poorly located on a low terrace at the inside
of a bend on a shallow branch of the Lena.
The river, here full of islands and 15 miles
wide, is shifting away from the town so
that boats must unload four miles away
at low water. Floods frequently inundate
the city.

Northeastern Mountains

This region continues the system of
young mountains that cross central Eura-
sia from the Alps to Kamchatka. This
corner of the Union is so inaccessible that
the Cherski Range, rising to 9,843 feet,
was not discovered until 1926. Kamchatka
has the greatest group of volcanoes on the
continent, with 127 cones of which 19 are
active. The highest is Mt. Kliuchevskaya,
15,950 feet, which has erupted 19 times in
two centuries. In 1907, the volcano Shtiu-
belia ejected four billion cubic yards of
ashes, and some of the dust fell in Europe.

The Northeastern Mountains have long
been known as the icebox of the world. No
inhabited place has observed as low
minima as Verkhoyansk and Oimekon.
Extreme low temperatures are not related

to the winter high pressure over Siberia
but are due to intense radiation in calm air
and local air drainage into enclosed basins.
Verkhoyansk has a January average of
-“59®F. and an absolute minimum of
~90°F, Observations at Oimekon since
1928 show that winters are consistently
colder, so that it may replace Verkhoyansk
as the coldest station. The unattractive
character of the Oimekon district is indi-
cated by its population of 565 households or
2,400 people in an area of 27,000 square
miles.

In 1916, all of this region was regarded
as outside the limits of possible culti-
vation. Agricultural experiment stations
have shown that some vegetables may be
grown in the southern half, especially in
the central valley of Kamchatka. Most of
the region has as little precipitation as the
Aral-Balkhash Desert, but monsoon winds
bring 40 inches to the southeastern part
of Kamchatka. Mountain tundra replaces
taiga forest.

The Okhotsk Sea and the waters around
Kamchatka have long been important
fishing grounds. Since the catch must be
sun dried, the cloudy and foggy weather of
summer presents problems. From 1847
to 1871, American whalers secured whale
oil and bone here to the value of $87,500,-
000; and whales are still caught. Under
the Treaty of Portsmouth which ended
the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905,
Japanese fishermen were given special
concessions in this area, and the gradual
restriction of these arrangements has been
the source of much political friction.
Salmon, cod, herring, and crab are caught.
The chief port on Kamchatka is Petro-
pavlovsk, founded in 1741 and located on
one of the world’s finest harbors. The
port is the most important Soviet harbor
on the open Pacific.

The mining of gold on the upper Kolyma
started in 1929, and an automobile road

S70 Regions of Soviet Siberia

leads south to the new town of Magadan to over two million. With the empty spaces
at Nagaevo Bay on the Sea of Okhotsk. coming into use, the Far East is now

One of the shafts of the Artimovo coal mine in Sakhalin. (Sovfoto.)

The Far East

Southeastern Siberia borders the Pacific
and is significant as the frontier toward
Japan. The Third Five-year Plan em-
phasized the military importance of agricul-
tural and industrial developments, and
assigned four billion rubles or 4 per cent
of its funds to the political units known
as the Khabarovsk and Maritime terri-
tories, which include all of the Pacific
margin to the Arctic. The geographic
region here considered is essentially the
Amur Basin, plus Sakhalin.

The decade prior to the Second World
War was marked by a great increase in
cultivated land, the beginnings of heavy
industry, the growth of cities, and active
immigration which brought the population

self-sufficient in its food and industrial
needs.

The Amur is the great river of the east,
comparable to the three north-ffowing
rivers. The chief tributaries on the left
bank are the Zeya and Bureya, while
on the right the Sungari comes from
Manchuria, and the Ussuri forms the
eastern Manchurian border. Along the
central Amur around Khabarovsk is a
broad plain which continues up the
Ussuri to Lake Khanka. On the east, the
plain is enclosed by the Sikhota Alin
Mountains, while on the west are the
Little Khingan Mountains. West of this
is the Bureya-Zeya plain, limited by the
extension of the Great Khingan Mountains.

The Far East has a continental climate
modified by the Pacific monsoons. Strong

The Far East

371

dry winter winds blow from the interior, Irtysh have such good agricultural possi-
with temperatures far below freezing, bilities. Korean farmers even raise rice
In summer, relatively warm oceanic air north of Vladivostok. Wheat, rye, oats.

Karl Marx Street in Khabarovsk, the leading city of the Soviet Far East. (Sovfoto.)

imports moisture, bringing an annual and barley are the chief grains; sugar
rainfall of 25 inches to Vladivostok, beets are extensively grown. Spring plant-
Although Vladivostok lies in the latitude ing is delayed since the ground freezes to
of southern Crimea, its east coast position ten feet or more under the thin snow cover,
gives winter temperatures 45® colder, and thawing takes place slowly under the
resembling Halifax. cloudy skies of June.

The flora is of the Manchurian type. Since the Far East did not raise enough
with magniflcent stands of Korean pine, food to supply itself, agricultural colonists
spruce, fir, and larch, mixed with 10 per from overcrowded parts of Soviet Europe
cent of deciduous forms such as oak. have been offered free transportation,
Timber not only supplies the expanding credits, and tax exemption. The Jewish
internal market but is shipped to Japan, colony of Birobidjan, west of Khabarovsk,
China, and Australia. Meadows cover the is especially interesting. Jews receive full
drier interior basins. rights throughout the U.S.S.R. but have

Few other parts of Siberia east of the heretofore had no district that was exclu-

372

Regions of Soviet Siberia

sivdy their own. This Soviet Palestine
^tirovides such a haven and at the same
time strengthens the regional economy.

Vladivostok

Elevation, 50 feet; average temperature, 89.7®F.;
total precipitation, 14-7 inches.

The Far East has mineral resources
for a growing industry. Steel mills have
been built at Komsomolsk to use Buryea
coal and iron ore from either the Little
Khingan or lower Amur, both of low grade.
Lead and zinc have long been secured
along the Japan Sea. The chief oil produc-
tion east of the Urals is in Sakhalin.

Komsomolsk is the magic city of the
east. Although founded only in 1932, its

population reached 70,000 by 1939. This
is the “city of youth,” the lodestone of
enthusiastic workers from all over the
Union. Situated on the lower Amur, it
has the largest steel mills and shipyards
in the Soviet Far East.

Khabarovsk has developed where the
Trans-Siberian Railway spans the Amur.
It is the political and commercial center of
the area, with a population of 199,364 in
1939.

Vladivostok has a picturesque setting
on Peter the Great Bay. The city’s trade
increased greatly during the First and
Second World Wars and during periods of
favorable political relations with Man-
churia. The harbor is kept open throughout
the year by icebreakers. Coal is secured
from near-by bituminous deposits. The
population numbered 206,432 in 1939.

The Far East offers considerable promise.
Soils and climate make agriculture rela-
tively attractive. Timber reserves are
excellent, minerals fairly abundant, and
transportation rapidly improving. Many
of the people are pioneers, and this “new
east” resembles Canada’s “great west.”
But neither Canada nor the Soviet Union
is primarily a Pacific power.

CHAPTER m

THE SOUTHWESTERN REALM

The term “Near East” is an indefinite
geographical expression which is frequently
used but seldom defined. To some it loosely
refers to all the lands between Libya and
India; to others it is limited to the coun-
tries within Asia bordering the Mediter-
ranean; and some would even include India.
The words “Middle East” and “Levant”
are sometimes introduced for Palestine,
Iraq, and near-by areas, but the Middle
East is also used variously for North
Africa or even India. Like the Far East, the
phrase Near East stands for no clearly de-
fined place on the map and it is well to
use it sparingly. This chapter is an intro-
duction to the eight major countries of
Southwestern Asia, between India and
the Mediterranean: Turkey, Syria, Pales-
tine, Trans-Jordan, Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and
Afghanistan.

Southwestern Asia spreads over two and
a half million square miles, so that it is
nearly as large as all the United States. In
a certain sense this is a great peninsula, or
an isthmus. To the south are the Arabian
Sea and the Persian Gulf, on the west are
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, north-
ward are the Black and Caspian seas and
the equally limiting Caucasian mountains
and Turanian deserts. Only across Suez
and the Bosporus is there a link with
Africa and Europe. Geographic barriers
also enclose the realm to the east where the
Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges bar access
from India, while the Hindu Kush, Khoras-
sam, and Elburz mountains are a rampart
fronting Soviet Middle Asia.

Whatever name is used, this area has

S73

physical, cultural, and historical coherence.
Much of European civilization had its rise
here. Three of the world’s great religions,
and the only monotheistic faiths, arose in
this corner of Asia. In contrast to the South-
east with its abundant summer monsoon
rainfall, the Southwest is a land of sparse
winter rain. Again in contrast, this is a
pastoral land with extensive deserts and
a sparse population in comparison to dense
populations and intensive rice culture. This
is the Mohammedan world, largely Arab
in its population. Great changes have taken
place within recent decades; here today
meets yesterday.

The most striking landscape contrasts
are those between the green fields, often
irrigated, and the brown desert. Only in a
few places is there a continuous expanse of
cultivation ; elsewhere relatively small oases
stand out sharply against the enveloping
aridity. Barren mountains, except where
high enough , to capture rain, and rocky
hills are unusually prominent. Semiarid
lands lack suflBcient rainfall to enable vege-
tation to carpet the surface and thus hold
the soil in rounded slopes, but there is
enough running water at times to erode the
surface and develop sharp profiles.

The contrast between the desert and the
sown, between the tent and the town, has
led the city of Damascus to be described as
a “great and splendid Arab city set in a
girdle of fruit trees and filled with the mur-
mur of running water.” The productivity
of such irrigated oases ends abruptly across
the outermost irrigation ditch. Only a few
areas have suflScient rainfall for normal

374

The Southwestern Realm

field crops. The largest of these is known pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm are
as the fertile crescent, a discontinuous belt vital elements in the human economy. The
of cultivation which extends up the Tigris problem of agriculture is inadequate water

Within the Southwestern Realm lies Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Trans- Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and

Afghanistan.

and Euphrates, across northern Syria, and rather than infertile soils, although the
southward through Palestine. latter are seriously eroded in many areas.

Water is the key to life, and the green The rainfall is entirely confined to the

The Southwestern Realm

875

winter months, with scattered showers
from October to May. Large areas receive
but ten inches of rain. Summers are dry
and the natural vegetation withers under
the parching heat. Vegetation zones are
matters of elevation and exposure rather
than latitude. Thus many shepherds prac-
tice transhumance by taking their flocks
up the mountains to high level pastures
that have summer rain. Since few moun-
tains receive snow, most rivers tend to
dry up during the rainless summer. This
is a distinct handicap to irrigation.

The concentration of rainfall during the
winter months is a characteristic of the
western margins of continents in latitudes
roughly 30 to 40 degrees on either side of
the equator. This regime in the Mediter-
ranean area has given its name to similar
conditions in southern California, central
Chile, and small areas in southwestern
Africa and Australia. During winter months
when the sun is vertical in the Southern
Hemisphere, the northern belt of cyclonic
storms shifts equatorward from central
Europe and the Soviet Union. Occasional
rain-producing low pressure areas thus
invade Southwestern Asia. More properly,
a secondary storm path develops south of
the Alps and Caucasus and continues east-
ward with decreasing intensity south of
The Himalaya. Since the time, size, and
rain-producing capacity of these cyclonic
storms are highly variable, agriculture is
hazardous. During summer months the
path of cyclonic storms lies well to the
north of the realm and in its place is a
semipermanent belt of high pressure. This
gives rise to dry descending air movements
and, along the southern margin, to equally
dry trade-wind conditions.

With increasing distance into Asia from
the Mediterranean, less and less rain occurs.
This aridity reaches a climax in the deserts
of eastern Iran and northwest India. In the
former the meager rainfall comes in winter.

in the latter the wet season is the summer.
Between these climatic regimes lie the
Sulaiman and Elrthar ranges along the
borders of Afghanistan and Baluchistan.

Continental aridity usually brings pro-
nounced temperature contrasts, both an-
nual and daily. This is the case here, with
the added influence of different altitudes.
Within a given week in summer, tempera-
ture readings at one place or another
within the realm may range from freezing
to 130®F.

Aridity gives the topography a certain
sameness in the angularity and association
of land forms. Many mountains are geo-
logically young, so that fault scarps and
sharp features are common. Earthquakes
are recurrent. Abrupt contrasts in eleva-
tion, plus limited stream flow, have led
to the development of extensive alluvial
fans. Some of these face interior playa
basiijs where withering rivers fail to carry
their debris to the sea. Much of Turkey
and Iran is composed of tectonic basins.
Although most of Arabia slopes eastward
to the Persian Gulf, large areas contribute
no runoff adequate to continue to the sea.

Two extensive mountain systems enclose
much of Southwestern Asia, while between
them is a series of plateau basins. These
same chains continue eastward into China
and form the backbone of Asiatic structure.
In Turkey the two mountains are the
Pontus in the north and the Taurus in the
south. Between them is the plateau of
Anatolia. Eastward is the smaller plateau
of Armenia, on either side of which are
mountainous continuations of the Pontus
and Taurus, known, respectively, as the
Karabagh and Kurdistan. In Iran and
Afghanistan, the northern ranges are the
Elburz, Khorassan, and Hindu Kush, while
the southern edge of the plateau is formed
by the Zagros, Pars, and Makran moun-
tains. These systems again converge in
the Pamir knot, from which the topographic

S76

The Southwestern Realm

continuations eastward around Tibet are is the low alluvial plain of Mesopotamia,
the Altyn Tagh and The Himalaya. Fertile soil and adequate water for irriga-

The raw materials of Southwestern Asia are very limited. Oil (O, shadow letter) is important in Iran, Iraq,
and eastern Arabia. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), coal (C, shadow letter), and wool (Wo) are present
in Turkey; potassium (K) is secured from the Dead Sea, and manganese (Mn) from the Sinai Peninsula.

Elevations in the mountains reach one tion have made this the most attractive
to three miles, while the enclosed uplands agricultural area in the realm,
have a height of half a mile or more. Although these countries have nearly

Between the plateau of Iran and Arabia the size of the United States, the total

The Southwestern Realm

877

population numbers but 57 million. This
is nevertheless a dynamic area, for from
its peoples have come ideas that have
changed the world. If their place in modem
times appears small, one has but to recall
the empires of the past and the aspects of
European culture that arose here.

This is ^n old land, probably the oldest
in Asia in terms of human occupance. In
the beginnings of history we find Semitic
A.ssyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, He-
brews, Phoenicians, and Hittites. Later
came Aryan Persians and Kurds, and still
later Arabs, Mongols, Turks, Greeks, and
Romans. These successive innundations
have given a complex racial picture to
present-day Southwestern Asia. Three ma-
jor groups now stand out. Arabs dominate
Syria, Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Iraq, and
Arabia. Turks and Persians have their own
countries. Many minority groups persist
in local areas such as the Jews, Kurds,
Turkomans, and Afghans.

Despite the great extent of the areas de-
voted to grazing, nomads number but a
small fraction of the total population. City
dwellers are likewise limited in number, so
that three-quarters of the people are peas-
ant farmers, many of them depending upon
irrigation.

Although many racial groups are repre-
sented, there is an underlying cultural
unity. Part of this is political, an outgrowth
of ancient empires. Thus the Moslem world
once exceeded that of imperial Rome. Arab
culture had a brilliant development in
medieval times, as witnessed in the achieve-
ments of Damascus and Bagdad. Mathe-
matics was highly developed, and there
was a rich and extensive literature on
^ philosophy, law, medicine, travel, and
science of which most westerners are still
unaware. Modern nationalism appears to
have ended the possibility of Pan-Islamic
political unity, but a cultural awareness
remains.

Mohammedanism binds all of South-
western Asia into a single unit, whether
the people are Arab, Turk, or Persian. Few
other factors are so unifying. Mohammed-
ans spread entirely across Africa and Asia,
with some ten million in China, seventeen
million in the Soviet Union, nearly eighty
million in India, and fifty million in the
Netherlands Indies.

These Moslems form a self-conscious
bloc, for Islam is more than a religious
belief; it is a legal code, a social order, and
a cultural pattern. All this has its center of
gravity in Southwestern Asia.

This realm also has world significance in
its resources. Although not so rich as other
parts of Asia, oil in Iraq and Iran and
chromium in Turkey are major factors in
world mineral trade. Iraq could grow as
much cotton as Egypt. Turkish tobacco
and wool are of the best.

Trade between eastern Asia and Europe
must pass through or near this realm, or
else detour around Africa. So long as the
Soviet Union remains closed. Southwestern
Asia commands the highways by water,
land, and air. Thus the Suez Canal has
changed history and remains a key point
for the British Empire. In order to check-
mate Suez, Germany sought an overland
route in the Berlin to Bagdad Railway,
designed to connect the Bosporus with the
Persian Gulf. Construction started in 1888,
but through service was not available until
1940. It is thus possible to travel entirely
across Asia by rail, from Murmansk to
Basra. Connections will some day be made
with the Indian railways, but freight from
Europe to India can move cheaper by
water, while passengers and mail will follow
the airways. Air service dates from 1921
when the Royal Air Force operated from
Cairo to Bagdad. Before the Second World
War, planes of the British Overseas Air-
ways, Air France, the Dutch KX.M., and
German Junkers all met in Bagdad.

878

The Sovthwestem Realm

During the second and third decades of Empire of Turkey which covered a maxi-
the twentieth century the nations of this mum of 1,700,000 square miles and ruled
realm underwent such rapid changes that 40,000,000 people. Since the history of this

The geographic regions and land forms of the Southwestern Realm. Within Turkey are the Marmara
Lowlands (Ml/), the Black Sea Fringe (BSF), the Anatolian Uplands (AU), the Armenian Highlands (AU), ,
and the Mediterranean Fringe (MF). The other countries of the Southwestern Realm are Syria (S), Palestine
(P), Transjordan (T-J), Arabia (A), Iraq (I), Iran (I), and Afghanistan (A). {Draum by William Black,)

the pace was described as a century in a realm is so interwoven, it seems appropriate
decade. This process began long ago with to sketch these historic changes here as
the disintegration of the old Ottoman well as in the subsequent chapters.

The Southwestern Realm

379

The rebirth of Turkey under Mustafa
Kemal revealed an unsuspected vigor, first
demonstrated by the expulsion of the
Greeks in 1922. The old foreign extra-
territorial restrictions were abrogated and
a modern democratic state was set up. The
entire economic and cultural system was
permeated by new life. Agriculture and
industry were modernized under a nation-
alistic program which greatly enlarged
the cultivated land and crop return.
Turkey also set up factories to produce the
textiles and simple manufactured goods
formerly imported. Laws were passed
abolishing the fez and the veil, forbidding
polygamy, and ending Mohammedanism
as a state religion. One of the most sig-
nificant changes was the official adoption
of the Latin alphabet. Turkey has become
modern but it is determined to remain
Turkish.

Syria and Palestine, unlike Turkey, had
no earlier political independence. During
the First World War, the Arabs were
promised that their independence and
unity would be upheld if they would revolt
against Turkey and thus against Germany,
but at the Peace Conferences French and
British rivalries prevented this unity. As
a result, Syria and Palestine became man-
dates, along with Iraq. French occupation
of Syria did not prove very successful, for
there were 18 rebellions between 1919 and
1941.

Palestine’s problems are many and deep,
as this is the scene of a head-on conflict
between two national interests: the Arab
renaissance and Jewish Zionism. Palestine
is not only the home of the Jewish religion;
Jerusalem ranks after Mecca and Medina
as the third most sacred city of Islam.
Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus are all
Mohammedan prophets. Arabs have lived
in Palestine for thirteen centuries since
they drove out the Romans and feel that
this constitutes adequate territorial claim.

British interests in the security of Suez are
also involved. These rival Arab, Hebrew,
and British claims have proved impossible
of solution. The Arabs complain that the
new Jewish communities have bought up
the best land and, although Arabs have
shared in the general increase of prosperity,
the deeper problem is political. In 1918
there were 55,000 Jews in Palestine; this
grew to 435,000 in 1941, an increase from
8 to 31 per cent of the total. The Arabs
might agree to a national hoTne for the
Jews, but the latter aim at a natignal
state. Schemes of partition have satisfied
no one. It is doubtful whether the Arabs
will surrender political control except
under continuing force, and that involves
explosion throughout the Moslem world.

Arabian developments, like those of
Turkey, have been the product of a strong
leader, ibn-Saud, King of Saudi Arabia.
Much of the peninsula has been unified
and tribal warfare reduced. Economic
modernization is limited by geographic
handicaps.

Iraq was set up as a British mandate but
in 1921 it became an independent kingdom
and the mandate ended in 1932. Extensive
irrigation projects and other agricultural
aids have restored some of the ancient
productivity. Railways now lead from the
Persian Gulf to Europe.

Persia became Iran in 1925, and the
change to the ancient name is an indication
of the rebirth of national consciousness.
For centuries this country has been the
scene of rival Russian and British imperial-
isms. The Russian bear has sought a warm-
water port on the Persian Gulf, while the
British lion has been concerned with the
security of the route to India. These con-
flicting interests have actively remained
but have been overshadowed by the devel-
opment of internal reforms. Iran has fol-
lowed Turkey’s lead in many ways. There

S80

The Southwestern Realm

has been a notable increase in education,
communications, and political organization.

Important problems remain in each
country, for the settlements of the First
World War have never been accepted with
enthusiasm. External geostrategic interests
of Britain, France, and the Soviet Union

are still paramount and refuse to leave
the area to its own devices. The Second
World War interrupted the development
of national reforms but failed to arouse
any real enthusiasm for either Allied or
Axis powers. Southwestern Asia has not
yet found political stability.

Chapter 23

TURKEY

Turkey is a miniature continent in itself.
On three sides the country is bounded by
seas, within which it is still further enclosed
by mountains. Continentality is empha-
sized by seasonal pressure changes which
produce, alternately, inward and outward
winds. Coastal accessibility and interior
inaccessibility are as true of Asia Minor as
of Asia as a whole. As a peuinsula Turkey is
European like Portugal; as a plateau it is
as dry as Soviet Middle Asia and almost as
cold in winter.

For thousands of years the plateau of
Anatolia has been a link between Europe
and Asia, while at right angles to it the
Dardanelles and the Bosporus have served
as an avenue from the Aegean to the Black
Sea. Rugged topography and arid climate
do not make overland travel easy, but
movement has ever been characteristic.
No railway or modern road leads directly
from northern to southern Turkey across
the mountains; instead the grain of the
country is from east to west. The bordering
mountains have kept out emigrants from
Europe and maintained the Asiatic charac-
ter of the country; only along the Aegean
did Hellenic culture secure a foothold.

Innumerable struggles have occurred
here, usually between the alien nations of
the East and the West. Almost every im-
portant country in Europe and in western
Asia has fought in this area, either for con-
trol of the Straits, to command the through
route by land, or for the small patches of
fertile soil. Here are many province and
city names famous in Greek and Roman

881

history and in the New Testament, such
as Troy, Ephesus, Miletus, and Tarsus.

Turkey dates from the thirteenth century
when the Ottoman Turks were nomads in
the Anatolian uplands. During the period
of its greatest extent in 1566, Turkey
reached from Hungary to southern Arabia
and from Egypt to the Sea of Azov. Succes-
sive losses of land followed until the end of
the First World War when the country was
deprived of all of its . territory except
that in Asia Minor and a small area around
Istanbul, formerly Constantinople.

In 1922 occurred the Turkish Revolution
under Mustafa Kemal Pasha, and the
capital was removed to Ankara (pro-
nounced An' kara) in the interior in order
to make independence more secure. No part
of Turkish history is more dramatic then
the events that followed. The old Oriental
Turkey has become modernized and Euro-
peanized at a rate that scarcely seemed
possible. Despite limited mineral resources
and a nonagricultural climate over much
of the country, Turkey has established a
significant place for herself as the leading
nation in Southwestern Asia. Resilience
seems to be a characteristic of the Turkish
people.

The nearness of the Aegean shore to
Greece and the attractiveness of its possi-
bilities led to a very early colonization by
Greeks, who dominated the economic life.
One of the noteworthy events of the
revolution in 1922 was the transfer of all
Greeks from Turkey, except Istanbul, to
Greece and the repatriation from that

The town of Brusse lies at the foot of the Bythynic Olympus, the highest mountains in western Asia
Minor with a maximum elevation of 7,650 feet above sea level. In the center of the town lies the Jeshil
Turbe Mosque. Sparse Mediterranean vegetation characterizes most hillsides in Turkey. {Alice Schalek^
from Three Lions.)

people but was part of the program of
nationalization.

Prior to the establishment of the Re-
public, most foreigners enjoyed extraterri-
torial rights which gave special privileges to
foreign investments. These rights gradually
threatened the political and economic
freedom of the country, for most railways,
banks, and public utilities were in foreign
hands; even the customs was under foreign
administration. The recovery of complete
sovereignty and the development of nation-
alism served as a pattern for China where
extraterritoriality prevailed until 1943.

continents and near a third, is of great
importance in peace and war. Czarist
Russia repeatedly sought an outlet through
the Straits, and as often was blocked by a
coalition of Western powers. During the
First World War Germany brought Turkey
to its side in order to secure a route from
Berlin to Bagdad. In the Second World War
the Allies succeeded in keeping Turkey
neutral and a barrier to further German
advance by agreeing to purchase the bulk
of her exports, previously shipped to
Germany. .

Turkey

Modern Turkey has an area of
square miles, of which 9,895 square miles
are in the European section. The population
in 1935 was 16,201,000, equal to an average
density of 55 persons per square mile. The
country is divided into 58 vilayets, or
districts, including Alexandretta, or Hatay,
which was returned by France in 1939.
Over three-quafters of the people are rural.
Agriculture and grazing are the predomi-
nant occupations, accounting for 70 per
cent of the national income and 90 per cent
of the exports. Yet less than 10 per cent of
Turkey is under cultivation.

Three major physical divisions charac-
terize Turkey in Asia: the Pontus Moun-
tains along the Black Sea in the north, the
central basins of Anatolia and Armenia,
and the Taurus Mountains with their
continuation in the Anti-Taurus along the
Mediterranean to the south. Limited areas
of level land fringe each sea. Next to
the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara in
the west is a hill country that gives rela^
tively free access to the interior plateau.
Irregular embayments are partly filled with
delta plains.

A cross section from north to south
shows a narrow fringe of coastal plain
along the Black Sea, an abrupt rise to the
rugged one- to two-mile-high Pontus Moun-
tains, a slight descent to the broad undulat-
ing Anatolian plateau with its playa lakes,
another rise to the high Taurus, and a
steep descent to the Mediterranean with
little or no coastal plain.

Anatolia is bordered by a complex series
of ranges; neither* the Pontus nor Taurus
are simple mountains. Heights reach about
10,000 feet in each system, somewhat
higher in the Taurus. The area is a con-
tinuation of Alpine folding, with sediments
laid down in an ancient geosyncline cut by
volcanic formations. Toward the east, the
Pontus and Taurus systems meet in the
Armenian knot or crown, with an elevation

383

of over a mile in the plateau and twice to
three times that in the mountains. Mt.
Ararat in the extreme east is an active
volcano, 16,916 feet high.

Within this mountain enclosure lies the
plateau of Anatolia, covering more than a
third of Turkey. This is a rolling steppe-
land of withering rivers and barren plains.
Salt lakes and playa flats are interrupted
by low ranges a few hundred or a thousand
feet above the plain. The general altitude
is over 2,000 feet in the west and 4,000 feet
in the east.

Most of the usable coastal areas are next
to the Aegean and the Sea of Marmara in
the west. The Black Sea coast has more
level land than along the Mediterranean,
where the chief level land is in the Cilician
Plain.

Climatic conditions divide the country
into two parts: the coastal sections with a
Mediterranean type of climate with 20 or
more inches of winter rain, and the semiarid
plateau also with winter precipitation but
with less than 10 inches a year.

Along the Aegean and Mediterranean
coasts conditions resemble Greece, with
warm dry summers and cool rainy winters.
During the latter season occasional cold
winds sweep out of the interior through
gaps in the mountains. The Black Sea
coast has much more rainfall than else-
where, even 100 inches toward the east,
and it occurs during the fall as well as in
winter. Vegetation follows altitude, with
dry maqui brush on the lower slopes fol-
lowed by splendid deciduous and then
coniferous forests up to the tree line at
6,000 feet, above which are alpine meadows.

Conditions within Anatolia resemble
southeastern Soviet Europe, with bitterly
cold northeast winds during winter and
spring which bring freezing temperatures.
Summers are very hot and are accompanied
by severe dust storms. The precipitation
is under ten inches, with snow on the sur-

L UTKt^y

face for three months. Moisture from the cally classed as arable, though only 10 per
surrounding seas is lost on the outward cent was in use, and prior to 19^7 less
slopes of the intervening mountains. Sum- than 5 per cent was cultivated. Pastures

The modernization of agriculture has been one of the objectives of the Turkish government. This combine is
harvesting rice on the Gilician Plain {Ewing Galloway.)

mers are entirely dry. This is a treeless
steppe with many saline wastes.

The mountains of Armenia in* eastern
Turkey are even colder, with six months of
winter. This is sometimes known as the
Siberia of Turkey.

The soils of Turkey are thin and seriously
eroded. In the steppe, overgrazing has led
to the destruction of the soil cover with
extensive subsequent deflation. In the more
humid areas, deforestation or careless
cultivation has brought excessive erosion
by the concentrated rainfall. The few
alluvial plains now contain much of the
soil from the interior which has not been
carried out to sea.

Agriculture and grazing are the chief
occupations. Out of the total area of the
country in 1936, 30 per cent was optimisti-

and meadows cover 35 per cent, mountains
and wasteland 13 per cent, and forests
13 per cent.

Wheat is by far the most important crop,
accounting for 45 per cent of all field crops.
Barley occupies half that area, with corn,
rye, and oats as minor cereals. These are
all fall planted. Cotton has risen to 3 per
cent and tobacco utilizes 1 per cent. Olives,
grapes, and filberts are the chief tree and
vine crops. Olive trees manage to grow with
as little as eight inches of rainfall. Summer
rain is a disadvantage.

As a result of government efforts since
the Revolution, wheat production has in-
creased so much that Turkey has changed
from a wheat-importing to a wheat-export-
ing country. Yields averaged 16.3 bushels
per acre in 1938. Wheat growing is evenly

385

Turkey

spread through all but a few of the districts,
with a tendency to be more important in
the drier interior.

Tobacco is a distinctive Turkish export,
but the plant is an American variety in-
troduced in 1602 which has acquired unique
properties in its new environment. Most of
the tobacco is grown in two districts, one
in the far west and the other in the north
center. It is usually raised on the southern
side of hills, protected from high winds;
where raised in flat country, straw mats are
erected for its shelter. Two-thirds of the
crop is exported.

Cotton is grown in the west and south
and supplies the raw material for a rapidly
growing textile industry. As with wheat,
*there has been extensive government
research and support. Production trebled
in the 15 years prior to 1940, and it is
estimated that the 700,000 acres now in
cotton production might be increased by
2,000,000 additional acres.

Turkey is the world’s leading producer of
filbert nuts, shipped largely to Europe.

Raisins rate third in the export trade,
sometimes second, and the country is in
the same export rank as the United States.
Production was much more extensive prior
to the phylloxera damage in 1900.

Figs apparently originated here and are
a major export from Smyrna, now known
as Izmir. Turkey is by far the world’s
largest exporter.

Mohair is a distinctive product of the
interior, and the raising of angora goats
is an important occupation in central
Anatolia. The wool combines softness and
durability, and Turkish mohair is the
finest in the world.

Turkey’s export trade is predominantly
made up of agricultural products. Only
through the sale of these items is the
country able to import the industrial
materials that she needs. The chief exports,
in normal order, are tobacco, filberts.

raisins, cotton, mohair, wheat, wool, figs,
hides and ^ skins, and barley. During the
decade before the Second World War,
Germany increased her purchases through
trade agreements until she took more than
all other countries combined. The United
States held second place, owing to its
purchases of tobacco. Only limited exports
are consigned to near-by countries in the
Balkans or Southwestern Asia.

Mineral resources appear to be limited
to a few items, but the production is in-
creasing. Chromium ore is mined at Gutte-
man in the northwest, at Fethiye in the
southeast, and elsewhere to a total of
192,000 metric tons, enough to place
Turkey in second place in the world.
Molybdenum is obtained near Ankara.
Silver, lead, and zinc ore are produced near
Balikesir. Turkish meerschaum monopo-
lizes the world market as is true of emery.
Increasing amounts of coal are mined at
Eregli on the Black Sea.

The geographic regions of Turkey have
been variously defined. Merriam divides
the country into four regions: those of
Mediterranean agriculture chiefly in the
west but with narrow belts along the
northern and southern coasts, the northern
and southern forests, and the area of
pastoral nomadism in the interior. Stamp
further divides the agricultural region into
the northeastern, Marmara, Smyrna, and
southern coastal regions; 'and the area of
pastoral nomadism into Inner Anatolia and
Inner Armenia. Lyde recognizes essentially
the same areas but, groups the northern
and southern coastal lowlands with the
respective mountains. The most detailed
classification is that of Banse who lists
five provinces and 21 regions in Anatolia,
and two provinces and ten regions in
Armenia.

Five geographic regions are here con-
sidered: the Marmara Lowlands, the Black
Sea Fringe, the Mediterranean Fringe

S86

Turkey

including the Aegean, the Anatolian Up-
lands, and the Armenian Highlands.

Marmara Lowlands

The Sea of Marmara, together with the
Dardanelles at the west and the Bosporus
at the east, is the traditional boundary
between Europe and Asia. North of these
waterways on the European side is the
plain of Thrace, while to the south are the
picturesque hills and plains of Troy, Bursa,
and Bithynia.

The annual rainfall is about 25 inches so
that a great variety of agricultural products
is grown, notably wheat, barley, oats,
olives, grapes, tobacco, and silk. Olive trees
are especially important in a region where
butter is rare and the religion forbids the
use of lard. Summers bring clear skies, high
temperatures, and a long drought. Winter
is the rainy season with occasional snow.
Most of the precipitation comes from
cyclonic storms that move toward the semi-
permanent low over the Black Sea. On
account of this seasonal distribution of
moisture, the natural vegetation shows
drought-resistant features. Differences in
elevation introduce sharp contrasts in
vegetation, with olives along the seacoast
and meadows near the snow line. Miss
Newbigin^ has pointed out that “ . . .
Mediterranean man’s greatest achievement
is that he has, wherever possible, replaced
the natural vegetation by a series of crops
which make use of every drop of water,
every square foot of soil, and yield him a
complete dietary.”

Throughout this comer of Turkey the
landscape has an east-west alignment,
with an old mature topography cut by
yoimg valleys eroded since the early Pleis-
tocene epoch of folding, vulcanism, and
uplift. The uplands are thus gently rolling
mature areas while the lower slopes are in

^Newbigin, Marion, “The Mediterranean
l^nds.'* 6?.

youth. Elevations reach 8,366 feet in Ulu
Dag or the Bithynian Mt. Olympus.

This is a long-settled land so that the
cultural landscape is the result of successive
human occupance. Agriculture is the occu-
pation for most of the people, with most
cultivation below the 750-foot contour line.
Many peasants plow their land with a
wooden plow, perhaps with an iron tip,
although modem steel plows are increas-
ingly in use. Seed is sown broadcast and the
harvest is gathered by hand. The grain is
threshed by driving a hiule or ox over it
and is winnowed in the air.

Istanbul, Turkey’s great city, lies on a
hilly promontory at the southern end of the
Bosporus and at the point where a long
bay known as the Golden Horn provides an
excellent harbor. Only Athens, Rome, and
Jerusalem had greater influence in the
ancient Occidental world. The Straits are a
sea-river, nowhere more than five miles in
width and in some places but half a mile;
their current is swift. The weather is sub-
ject to sudden changes, for winds from the
north and south are in conflict, even in the
course of the same day. Rainfall amounts
to 28 inches a year and falls on 112 days.
The population of Istanbul numbers 883,-
599. The suburb of Scutari, renamed
UskUdar, lies on the Asiatic side of the
Straits opposite Istanbul.

Black Sea Fringe

The Black Sea coast of Turkey has a
mgged littoral where steep-sided block
mountains rise directly from the coast.
There are few ports and only diflBcult
access to the interior. Settlement is confined
to three zones. The maritime belt is largely
a mountainous country where people are
limited to the accessible coast. There is
wilderness within a few miles. Rainfall is
abundant, especially to the east, and,
although there is a winter maximum, some
rain falls at all seasons. Hence typical

A Turkish farmer and his son on the way to market their wool. {Evring Galloway.)

box, and chestnut provide for a lumber
industry, although the topography is so
unfavorable that many forest areas are
inaccessible. Filbert nuts and tobacco are
important crops. The second zone lies
within the Pontus Mountains, an area of
east-west linear basins and upland pene-
plains which either have a poor forest or
are covered with steppe. Farther inland is
an uplifted and warped peneplain at eleva-
tions of 3,000 to 6,000 feet, with semiarid
vegetation and a sparse population.

The port of Eregli, the ancient Heraclea,
is the rail outlet for Ankara. Some two
billion tons of good coal are available to the

Mediterranean Fringe

The lowland of eastern and southern
Turkey is by far the most important part
of the country for agriculture. Here too is
the best developed Mediterranean type
climate with a summer drought that lasts
three to six months and some 20 inches of
winter rain. Settlement is particularly
dense along the Aegean Sea where numer-
ous drowned valleys, partly filled with
alluvium, provide a hospitable habitat.

Three lowlands are of special importance:
that behind Izmir, formerly Smyrna, in the
west, the Pamphylian Plain around

388

Turkey

Antalaya in the center, and the Cilician
Plain near Adana at the extreme north-
eastern corner of the Mediterranean. The
route of the Bagdad Railway crosses the
Taurus by a difficult pass near Adana.

Wheat and barley are the chief crops.
Cotton is grown in each area, but especially
in the Cilician Plain where climatic condi-
tions redfembie those of Egypt. Grapes for
sultana raisins, figs, olives, and opium are
famous in the hinterland of Izmir. Some
irrigated rice is grown.

Summer day and night temperatures
average between 75 and 85°F. in July, with
maximum readings to over 100°F. Winters
are cool but generally above 50®F. in
January; occasionally very strong cold
winds sweep out down the plateau.

The natural vegetation of the Taurus
Mountains is less luxuriant than along the
Black Sea, but excellent deciduous and
coniferotis forests remain. The tree line is
near 8,500 feet, and the lowlands have
thorny dry brush up to 2,000 feet. Heavy
snow falls in the mountains. In many
places along the rugged south coast the
forested area is near the shore. Much
agricultural land depends either upon the
irrigation of dry fields, or the drainage of
swamplands. Additional land can be
reclaimed but the expense may be
uneconomic.

Anatolian Uplands

Inner Turkey is a high basin, in places
somewhat mountainous. On three sides
lofty ranges keep out moisture-bearing
winds. .Much of the region has interior
drainage into shallow reed-lined lakes or
salty playas, but a few streams break
through the encircling mountains in ante-
cedent canyons. Toward the west the up-
land gradually descends to the Aegean hills.

The microcontinental character of Tur-
key is shown in the wind systems. High

summer temperatures cause a semiperma-
nent low pressure area to develop over
Anatolia with inblowing winds. Since these
lose much of their moisture on the encir-
cling mountains and are further heated oft
reaching the interior, no rainfall results.
Winter brings high pressure with dry out-
blowing winds, but occasional cyclonic
storms contribute a little moisture. The
rainfall in most areas is under ten inches.
The ground has a light snow cover in
winter while in summer the dry winds are
accompanied by dust storms. Much of the
drier surface has lost its soil cover by
deflation and is covered 'with a desert
pavement of pebbles.

These semiarid steppes are the home of
nomads who keep sheep and goats. Solidi-
fied sour milk, or yoghurt, is a staple item
in the diet, made from the milk of sheep,
buffaloes, goats, and cows. Wool is the
basis of the domestic rug industry, while
the angora variety is exported. The nomads
move with their flocks into the mountain
pasture in summer, and in winter descend
to the plains where the sheep and goats are
kept in enclosures except when the snow
cover permits some grazing. Wheat is
grown only in the more moist areas such as
alluvial fans and irrigated oases. In places
the volcanic soils conserve the limited
moisture. On the uplands the wheat is of
the hard variety as used for macaroni,
while that raised in the coastal lowlands is
soft wh^at.

Although less important economically
than the preceding regions, the Anatolian
Uplands are the home of the Turkish race.
Although the Anatolian steppe has much
less economic significance than the sur-
rounding lowlands, it nevertheless domi-
nates all of Turkey by the quality of the
men that it produces. It was thus appro-
priate that, when the country sought to be
independent of fbreign pressure, the capital
was moved from Constantinople to Ankara.

Armenian Highlands

The city occupies a commandiug position
on an old volcanic plug.

Armenian Highlands

In easternmost Turkey the Pontus and
Taurus systems unite to form the Armenian
Highlands, also known as a knot or a crown.
The region is an eastward extension of
Anatolia but has a different orientation
since it contains the headwaters of the
Tigris and Euphrates. Mountain systems
on both north and south surround a central
plateau. To the south are the Kurdistan
Mountains, a continuation of the Taurus,
while extensions of the Pontus system such

389

as the Karabagh enclose the north. Thus
Armenia is a small replica of Anatolia.
Elevations are higher and the climate more
severe than to the west. Volcanoes and
extensive lava flows complicate the con-
figuration. Many passes are snowbound for
eight months. In the extreme east is the
semiactive volcano Mt. Ararat, 16,916
feet high, near the point where the bound-
aries of Turkey, Iran, and the Soviet
Union join.

Nomadic stock raising is more important
than agriculture, with extensive seasonal
migration up and down the slopes accord-
ing to the season.

A desert road in Syria near the Iraq border. (Fa«, from Three Lions,)

size or productivity. Jerusalem is a holy
city to the Jews, Christians, and Moham-
medans. The three great monotheistic
religions all arose in the same land. Syria
and particularly Palestine have been a
focal area from which people and ideas
radiated to all of the Mediterranean area.

the area south of Lebanon and Mt. Her-
mon makes it appropriate to add the name
of Palestine.

Syria was a province of the old Turkish
Empire but, following the First World
War, it became a French mandate. The
area is 57,900 square miles and the popula-

S91

Syria and Palestine

tion numbered only 3,630,000 in 1935.
Palestine, a British mandate, covers 10,429
square miles and had 1,568,664 people in
1941, of whom two-thirds were Moslems
and one-fourth Jews. To the east of the
Jordan is the Arab state of Trans- Jordan
with an ^rea of roughly 34,740 square
miles and an estimated population of
300,000.

The ancient lands of Egypt and Mesopo-
tamia were separated by the barren exten-
sion of the Arabian Desert which projects
northward through interior Syria almost to
the present boundaries of Turkey. Travel
across this waste was almost impossible,
both on account of aridity and owing to the
hostile nomads. The one feasible route led
up the Euphrates to its headwaters and
thence to the delta of the Nile through
Palestine and Syria near the Mediter-
ranean. Thus the journey of Abraham from
Ur at the head of the Persian Gulf to Pales-
tine followed a roundabout course to the
north through the crescent of grasslands
which encircles the northern desert.

Syria and Palestine are small lands, with
limited rainfall and without important raw
materials. Their population has always been
scanty. Much of the importance was due to
this corridor position between two historic
valleys. Trade routes along the coastal
avenue date back to the beginnings of
history. The migrations of the Children of
Israel are not the only movement of people
in this avenue between the desert and the
sea. Before them came the Amorites and the
Philistines. Other invaders were the Assyr-
ians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians,
Egyptians, Romans, Saracens, Crusaders,
Turks, British, and French.

The general structure and configuration
of Syria and Palestine are simple. Next to
the Mediterranean is a discontinuous
coastal lowland, nowhere more than a few
tens of miles in width and in places entirely
absent. Sand dunes fringe much of the

shore. On the landward side is a series of
hills and mountains from one end of the
region to the other. Farther east and still

A Syrian water wheel and the ancient Roman aque-
duct at Hama on the Orontes River. {Decherd^ cour-
tesy Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.)

parallel to the coast there is an almost
continuous lowland, drained by the Jordan
River in the south and by the Orontes
River in the north. The uplands of Trans-
jordan and interior Syria lie farther east.

The central valley of the Jordan and
Orontes is a rift, probably a downfaulted
graben which represents, at least in the
topography, a dropped keystone in the
elongated arch whose eroded flanks form
the hill country on either side of the linear
depression. This rift structure continues
southward through the Red Sea and

892 Syria and Palestine

Ethiopia to the linear lakes of central Orontes to Antioch. Since the rift valley
Africa. The faulted structure has been dies out in the north and there is no

The port of Haifa has the best harbor facilities along the coast of Palestine. This is the terminus of pipe lines
from the oil fields of Iraq. {Alice Schalek, from Three Lions.)

questioned, but the topographic continuity
remains.

Two lowland gaps cut around the
mountainous barrier of these eastern and
western uplands: one is in the south across
the desert at the end of the Red Sea, the
other is the breach in the north where the
Gulf of Alexandretta is the terminus for
three overland routes to the Euphrates.
One is essentially the path of Alexander the
Great via the Syrian Gate east of Alexan-
dretta. Another is followed by the modern
Bagdad Railway between the Cilician Plain
and Aleppo over the Amanus Mountains,
and the third leads up the gorge of the

eastern hill country, the northern passes
lead directly to the Mesopotamia plains.

These northern routes cross what is
known as the Syrian Saddle, the one low
level corridor between the mountains of
Turkey to the north and those of Syria on
the south. More important than the low
elevation of the passes is the fact that some
moisture from the Mediterranean can pene-
trate inland to provide a grassland avenue
for nomadic migration to the upper Eu-
phrates. Farther south the intervening
desert is increasingly formidable and un-
suited for caravans.

Syria and Palestine 393

The western uplands between the rift of hills : the narrow valley of the Orontes in
valleys of the Orontes and Jordan and the tho north, the valleys near Latakia and
coast have several subdivisions. In the Tropoli, the Litani River, and the fertile

The shore of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, with characteristic sparse Mediterranean vegetation on the

hillsides. {Etmng Galloway.)

north there is the Am anus Range, with
heights of over a mile; to the south and
bounded by the Orontes River and the
Latakia gap are the desolate limestone hills
of the Cassius Range. Next come the lower
and more important Djebel Ansarije. The
rugged mountains of Lebanon rise to
10,000 feet and extend from north of
Tripoli to the mouth of the Litani River.
Only a few groves of the famed cedars
remain. The Palestine section to the south
includes the rolling hill lands of Galilee
with good soils, the low country of Samaria,
and the rugged upland of Judea around
Jerusalem. Only a few gaps cross this line

vale of Esdraelon around Nazareth. The
width of the uplands is less than 40 miles in
most areas.

These uplands lie so close to the sea that
coastal plains are narrow or absent. None
borders the Amanus, Cassius, or Djebel
Ansarije ranges, and the few coastal towns
are all river-mouth settlements; Seleucia
on the Orontes and Latakia.

The plains of Lebanon are narrow but in-
tensively cultivated and constitute one of
the most important agricultural areas along
the eastern Mediterranean. Here are Trip-
oli, Beyrouth, and Sidon, with Tyre just to
the south in Galilee. Haifa, the best port

394

Syria and Palestine

along the entire coast, lies in the small feet below sea level. No major cities lie in
Plain of Acre. South of Mt. Carmel is the the rift valley.

important Plain of Sharon with the port of If all the salt in the Dead Sea might be

Street bazaars in the city of Damascus. {Ewing Galloway^

Jaffa, ancient Joppa; and still farther assembled in a mass, it would be four cubic
south is the Plain of Philistia. miles in volume.^ The average salinity is

The central rift valley is bounded by 24 per cent, largely magnesium and sodium
bold escarpments on both east and west, chlorides. Assuming that the flow of the
Thus Jerusalem is 4,000 feet above the Jordan has remained constant, this ac-
Dead Sea, 15 miles to the east. Various cumulation would have required 50,000
names apply to specific sections: the linear years. There is considerable evidence that
valley of the Orontes is known as the Chab, the sea was once larger, and it may have
the south-flowing Litani occupies the once been a fresh-water lake overflowing to
Belka, while the depression occupied by the Mediterranean. Potash and bromine
the Jordan is known as El Ghor. The Dead are extracted in two modern plants, based
^ is the lowest part of this depression. .

1,297 feet below sea level, but even the Jordan, Geographical Journal (1923). LXI,

Lake of Tiberias or Sea of Galilee is 686 428-440.

Syria and Palestine

395

on solar evaporation. The sea covers 400
square miles and has a depth of 1,310 feet.
Sheer precipices border much of the shore.

To the east of the rift are the Kurd Dag,
the Anti-Lebanon, and Mt. Hermon, 9,700
feet high, all in Syria, and Gilead and
Moab in Trans-Jordan. These mountains
have a bold face to the west but merge
eastward into the desert plains of northern
Arabia. The oases of Aleppo and Damascus
are the chief settlements.

Most of Syria and Palestine is dry.
Abundant rain falls on the higher west-
facing slopes but the amount rapidly
declines to the east and south. Thus the
coastal Lebanon Mountains receive 45
inches while interior Damascus has 12
inches. Proceeding southward along the
coast, Beyrouth has 36 inches, Haifa re-
ceives 27 inches, Jaffa 21, and Gaza but 17
inches. All stations in the lee, that is to the
east, of elevations are dry. Rainfall pene-
trates into the interior only where there are
gaps in the mountains. This is a Mediter-
ranean area with winter rain from weak
cyclonic storms between October and April.
Summers are dry and very hot. The natural
vegetation is so sparse and the land so over-
grazed and carelessly cultivated that the
torrential rains have led to serious soil
erosion which has laid bare many hillsides.

The ruins of ancient towns in what is now
desert, such as Palmyra, and the evidence of
former agriculture in areas now desolate
suggest cyclic changes in rainfall, but there
is no positive evidence to demonstrate that
the average temperature and rainfall
throughout biblical times were materially
different from today. It is probable that
some of the glowing accounts of agriculture
in early Hebrew days were merely in con-
trast to the surrounding desert. All the
ruined cities of the interior were provided
with large reservoirs which demonstrate
the need for water then as now. Their
importance may have been related to

transit trade along routes later abandoned
in favor of others, rather than to local
agricultural settlement or a large nomadic

JFMAMJJASOND

Haifa

Elevation SO feet.

population based on notably higher rain-
fall. Minor changes, lasting even a century,
have occurred, but the long-time average
probably has remained within narrow
limits. Rough correlations between the
growth rate of the sequoias and modern rain-
fall in Jerusalem and in central California
suggest that both areas of Mediterranean
climate underwent parallel fluctuations.
Thus the aridity which sent Joseph into
Egypt is recorded in the California sequoias.

Agriculture and grazing are the chief
means of livelihood. Spectacular develop-
ments have occurred around the Zionist
settlements, notably in the Plain of Sharon
and the Vale of Esdraelon, but at great
expense for drainage of swamps and irri-
gation. Where water is available “the
desert blossoms as the rose.” The absence
of high mountains with permanent streams
makes irrigation a limited possibility. As
many hillsides have been entirely denuded
of their original vegetation by excessive
grazing, soils are thin and stony. The
Jordan River might supply water locally,
but summer temperatures in the valley are
excessively high and the river water is

306

Syria and Palestine

exceptionally high in salts. Rainfall in the
plains is almost everywhere marginal for
crops, although it fortunately occurs during
the winter when evaporation is less.

A great variety of crops is grown. Wheat
is the chief grain; olives, figs, grapes,
and citrus fruits are widespread; tobacco
and cotton are local specialties; and wool is
produced in the drier areas. Agricultural
imports in Palestine exceed agricultural
exports, for the country does not feed
itself.

No important minerals are produced
other than the salts from the Dead Sea.
Hydroelectric power is generated on the
Jordan River. An oil pipe line from Iraq has
its terminus at the port of Haifa.

The largest city in Palestine is the new
Jewish settlement of Tel Aviv, adjoining
Jaffa, with 110,000 people in 1935. Other
cities in order are Jerusalem, with nearly
100,000, Jaffa, and Haifa.

Palestine presents serious political prob-
lems. The Arab world is naturally opposed
to any Jewish state, for it would take over
what they have regarded as their own land
since its conquest from the Romans thir-
teen hundred years ago. There is also
opposition to extensive colonization, for it
involves the purchase of considerable parts
of the limited agricultural land. On the
other hand the Arabs have not developed
cultivation to its maximum.

Chaptee 25
ARABIA

The peninsula of Arabia spreads over an
area as large as all of the United Sja^tes east
of the Mississippi, about a million square
miles in extent. The country is so dry that
there is not a single permanent river. It
has been said that, up to the First World
War, Arabia contained the largest unex-
plored and unmapped area in the world
outside polar lands. Much has since been
done, but someting of this condition may
still be true.

Arabia is dry, but not all of it is lifeless
desert. Poor grazing grounds alternate with
sandy wastes. Higher elevations in the
southern corners have a good rainfall.
Almost none of the plains has enough
moisture for unirrigated crops. Although
there are no permanent streams, an exten-
sive system of wadies carries water after the
occasional rains. Even though the surface is
dry for much of the year, these water-
courses usually have an underground flow
at shallow depths. Many of the oases are
along such wadies, with small irrigated
fields supplied from wells.

The total population of Arabia is un-
known, but out of a possible seven million
people, actual nomads or Bedouins prob-
ably number less than a million. Despite
their small numbers, grazing is the only use
for the great bulk of the region. Most of
the remaining people live around the
margins of the peninsula where rainfall is
slightly higher and irrigated crops may be
raised. Conflict between the free wanderers
of the desert and fixed settlers in the oases
has been characteristic since the earliest
times, as was the warfare between the

dwellers of Arabia as a whole and the
people of the more favored lands of Pales-
tine, Syria, and Iraq.

In general terms, Arabia is a gently
tilted plateau which slopes eastward from a
divide near the western edge where ele-
vations average 5,000 feet. Numerous
irregularities in the interior interrupt this
simplicity, in part lava flows and granite
peaks to 6,000 feet. It is thus more correct
to speak of two general slopes, one to the
northeast and the other to the southeast.
High mountains rise in the southeastern
and southwestern corners.

Much of the geology resembles that of
Egypt, as does the climate. Were it not for
the presence of the Red Sea, Arabia might
be grouped with the Sahara, Asia would
thus begin with the Persian Gulf which
marks a more distinctive geographic bound-
ary than does the Red Sea.

A number of regional names need to be
kept in mind. Along the western coast is
the narrow Tehama, or lowland. East of it
is the hilly divide or Hejaz which includes
a long and important area with Mecca in
the center. The central plateau is the
Nejd, the fountainhead of the Arab race.
Interior Arabia has two great areas of
sandy desert; the Rub al Khali in the
southeast and the Nefud in the center, con-
nected by a narrow strip of sand through
the east, known as the Dahna. These are
areas of deflation hollows, wind-scoured in
the underlying sandstone, and exceptionally
large dunes. Following the winter rains
there is usually enough vegetation for some
grazing. The Syrian Desert is a northward
S97

S98

Arabia

continuation of geographical Arabia. In the Hot seas and gulfs border Arabia on
southwest are the highlands of Yemen, up three sides. Temperatures along the Red
to 8,924 feet, while in the southeast are Sea are so high that they have been de-

The arid mountains of the Hadhramaut contain surprisingly modernistic cities. This is a view of Gattam,
unknown to the western world until recent years. {Helfritz^ from Black Star.)

those of Oman, with a maximum elevation
of 9,902 feet. Between them and back from
the coast is Hadhramaut. Two other dis-
tinctions are between Arabia Deserta in the
center, and Arabia Felix, the “happy” area
with more water, in the south including the
highlands of Yemen.

Arabia has had a diverse political history.
Since the end of Turkish rule during the
First World War the bulk of the peninsula
has been a part of the Eangdom of Saudi
Arabia with its capital in the interior at
Riyadh or Riad. Yemen and Oman are
independent countries. Aden is a British
Crown colony and includes a vaguely
defined area in the hinterland.

scribed as “hell with the sun blazing down.”
Although these bodies of water might be
expected to yield some moisture despite
their relatively narrow width, summer
temperatures in the interior are even higher
so that rainfall occurs only with local
convectional storms or on windward moun-
tain slopes. The monsoon circulation of
southern Asia touches southern Arabia in
summer, but moist winds never come to the
peninsula from the Indian Ocean; instead
there are dry winds from Ethiopia. Aden
has only two inches of rainfall a year.
Occasional cyclonic storms from the Medi-
terranean cross the north in winter but have
been robbed of most of this moisture by the

Uplands of Syria and Palestine. Winter goats, horses, and camels. Wool and hides
temperatures drop below freezing when are thus major exports.

Polar Continental air masses from the The city of Mecca is the shrine of

The central shrine of Mohaminechinism in Mecca is the ancient building known as the Kaaba, always covered
with carpet, in one corner of which is the JMack Stone which is kissed by all pilgrims. {Black Star.)

Soviet Union occasionally extend to Arabia,
especially when drawn southward in the
rear of passing cyclonic storms. Summer
temperatures of over 100°F. are common,
with a record of 114®F. along the coast of
Oman.

Fixed settlement, which depends upon
agriculture, in turn rests on local water
supplies, either from springs, wells, or
reservoirs. A few wadies have ground water
sufficiently close , to the surface to permit
crops to grow. The highlands of Yemen and
Oman are exceptions, for they have pass-
able rainfall. Wheat, barley, and millet are
grown in the larger oases; tobacco and
dates are widespread. Coffee is raised in
Yemen behind Mocha, Grazing is the
principal means of livelihood, with sheep,

Mohammedanism, and the surrounding 100
square miles are closed to all who are not
followers of the prophet. Five times a day
the 220,000,000 Mohammedans of Asia and
Africa turn toward the city in prayer.
Every year a quarter of a million people
make a pilgrimage to the ancient stone
building known as the Kaaba with its
Black Stone. Mecca lies 45 miles from its
Red Sea port of Jidda, and about 250 miles
south of Medina, Arabia’s second sacred
city. Medina is the terminus of the Hejaz
Railway north to Trans-Jordan and
Damascus.

Two .key cities command the entrance to
the Red Sea, French Djibouti on the
African side and British Aden near the
corner of Arabia. Aden receives little trade

400

Arabia

from its immediate hinterland but is an
^ntrep6t for conaunerce along the coast.
Salt is evaporated from sea water for
export.

Spectacular petroleum operations have
brought eastern Arabia into prominence,
especially the island of Bahrein. The oil

field concession is held by the Standard Oil
Company of California. The production on
Bahrein reached 7,000,000 barrels a year
just before the Second World War, while
at the near-by Dammar field on the
mainland the output was nearly 6,000,000
barrels.

Chapter 26

IRAQ

Mesopotamia occupies a structural basin
between the plateau of Iran and the table-
land of Arabia. As recently as the glacial
period, the Persian Gulf extended to the
north of Bagdad, some 400 miles inland
from the present shore line. The southern
half of the area is thus a delta plain.
Farther north the sediments are older and
the topography is hilly. In the extreme
north are the rugged hills and mountains of
the Taurus and Kurdistan systems, drained
by the upper Tigris, while to the east are
parts of the Zagros Mountains of Iran.

Modern Iraq, essentially the valley of
the Tigris and the Euphrates, also spreads
westward into the Syrian Desert beyond the
limits of lowland Mesopotamia. Most of
the people and activity cluster around the
waterways, especially in the south where
the two main rivers unite 100 miles from the
gulf to form the Shatt al Arab.

The Tigris and Euphrates may be likened
to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, or to
the Nile. Each rises in well-watered moun-
tains and flows across a desert to a growing
delta. In southern, Iraq, the Tigris and
Euphrates have a low gradient, lose more
water by evaporation and diversion for
irrigation than they receive from tributaries,
and are overloaded with silt. Although
Bagdad is 500 miles from the sea by river,
its elevation is only 118 feet. Forty miles to
the west, the Euphrates is only 25 feet
higher.

As a result of this low gradient, the
rivers have inadequate carrying power and
deposition chokes the channel. Natural
levees have been built and in many areas

the rivers flow slightly above the level of
the surrounding land. Artificial levees
further protect the countryside from all

JFMAMJJASOND

Bagdad

Elevation, 220 feet; average temperature, 71.9®E.;
total precipitation, 6.6 inches.

but the highest floods, and it is simple to
construct irrigation canals by which to
lead the water away from the rivers. The
land between the rivers, that is, the true
“Mesopotamia,^* is thus capable of easy
irrigation from either side.

In northern Iraq the rivers flow in
normal valleys, rather than on a plain.
Diversion canals are less easily constructed
and irrigation is on a small scale. Limited
strips of flood plain in the north replace the
broad lowlands of the south.

Climatic conditions resemble those else-
where in Southwestern Asia. Rain occurs
only during the winter months and is
largely the result of passing cyclonic storms.
June to October are rainless. Since the ele-

401

The Tigris River at Bagdad, with a native kurfa in the foreground. {Eiving Galloway.)

Mediterranean. The lowlands of northern
Iraq thus receive 10 to 15 inches of pre-
cipitation a year and the mountains
twice that, while the south, cut off from
moisture-bearing winds, has half those
figures or less.

Much of the water in the rivers comes
not from local rainfall over the plains but
from the more abundant orographic pre-
cipitation in the Taurus and Kurdistan
mountains of Armenian Turkey, and the
Zagros and other mountains of western
Iran. Since the Tigris flows near the base
of the Zagros, it receives numerous tribu-

of the Tigris have built great alluvial fans
somewhat comparable to those at the foot
of The Himalaya along the Ganges and
Indus, but the rainfall is too low to permit
agricultural utilization.

The Tigris is the more important river
for navigation and can be used by small
steamships to above Bagdad. The Eu-
phrates has a shifting sand-choked course
and is too shallow for modern navigation.
Since it receives few tributaries from across
the plain and loses water by evaporation,
its volume diminishes toward its mouth.
Despite its unsuitability for traffic, the

Euphrates forms a direct route from adjust themselves to scanty and periodic
Bagdad to Aleppo and has been an moisture. Trees are entirely absent except
important trade route for centuries. The along the streams or in the more humid

The holy city of Kazemain near Bagdad with the domes of its minarets covered with leaf gold. Earthquake
effects are visible in many of the buildings. {Emng Galloway.)

Tigris is more subject to floods; its length
is about 1,150 miles while the Euphrates
measures 1,800 miles. So great is the load
of the combined rivers that the delta is
growing seaward at the rate of a mile and a
half per century.

Summer temperatures are frequently
above 100°F. and have reached 123°F. in
Bagdad where the August average is 93®F.
Since the humidity is low, the sensible heat
is slightly less than these figures imply.
In contrast, January at Bagdad has a mean
of 49°F. and a low of 19°F. The average
rainfall is 7 inches, with a range of 1 to 22
inches.

Amid such aridity, natural vegetation is
limited to the few specialized forms that can

upper mountains. Where Mediterranean
moisture reaches the north there is a steppe
grassland. Elsewhere the natural cover is
that of the desert.

Evaporation from the soil into the thirsty
air removes moisture from the surface
layer where it has been lifted by capillary
action. The water evaporates but its dis-
solved mineral water remains behind to
form a crust of salts and alkali. Large areas
are thus unsuited for cultivation. Irrigation
often intensifies this condition, especially
where the added water rises to the surface
and evaporates rather than draining into
the subsoil. Little natural drainage is
possible where the river flows above the
level of the adjoining plains. Swamps

404

Iraq

occupy extensive areas in the lower part of
each valley.

Wandering nomads find a meager exist-

The west wall of ancient Ninevah looking toward
the traditional tomb of Jonah. The city lies on the left
bank of the Tigris and was the capital of the Assyrian
Empire. {Emng Galloway.)

ence in the moister plains, but their life is
usually anchored to some oasis, possibly
a mountainous area that receives more rain.
Such is the case with the Sinjar Range
which rises to 4,000 feet. The present
political boundaries of Iraq exclude parts
of the mountains on the east and north
which once furnished summer pasture
grounds, so that traditional migrations are
altered.

The desert itself is brown and lifeless for
most of the year and becomes green for
only a few weeks after the winter rains.
Nomads from the Arabian plains and from
the mountains of Iran and Armenia have
invaded the oases of Mesopotamia re-
peatedly throughout history. Desert wells
are valuable property, and their control

has often led to warfare. Nomadism is on
the decline, for the government policy here
as elsewhere throughout Asia is to encour-
age fixed settlements.

Settled agriculturalists require depend-
able water supplies for their fields, so that
they are confined to the vicinity of rivers
and canals. In the north the rainfall permits
some unirrigated crops.

The green land of the farmer is in striking
contrast to the brown land of the shepherd.
The sharp line between the outermost irri-
gated field and the desert separates two
distinct cultures. About 90 per cent of the
people live along rivers or canals, so that
the cultivated area occupies but a small
fraction of the country as a whole. The
100-mile course of the Shatt al Arab around
Basra has by far the densest population.

Although Mesopotamia has many cli-
matic disadvantages, it is on the whole
more attractive than the neighboring lands
of Arabia or Iran. Since the beginnings of
recorded history, the valley has been
important. Egypt is older but scarcely more
significant. Three thousand years before the
Christian era this was the home of the
Sumerians. Later came the Semites and
then the Hittites. Arab peoples now occupy
the land.

This history is long and complicated. In
general, two areas stand out: Assyria in the
north and Babylonia in the south. Assyria
occupied the arid and largely unirrigated
land in the foothills of the Kurdistan Moun-
tains. Ninevah, on the upper Tigris and
near modern Mosul, was its ancient capital,
important as the starting point for the
caravan route through the grasslands to
the Mediterranean and Egypt. Babylonia
or Chaldea in the south centered either
around the city of Babylon or at Ur, Its
livelihood was based upon irrigation in the
rich alluvial plains of the Tigris and
Euphrates. It is possible that Ur is the
oldest city in the world, for archaeological

discoveries appear to push its date back to
6,000 years ago. Babylonia probably in-
cludes the legendary site of the Garden of
Eden. The topography of the north pro-
vided good townsites, free from flood,
while in the south there were few high sites
for cities along the rivers, and large areas
are inundated after each flood. Since
extensive irrigation works call for effective
government supervision, it seems probable
that this need for cooperation was a factor
in the rise of ancient civilizations.

Iraq’s modern history began in 1920
when the three former Turkish vilayets of
Basra, Bagdad, and Mosul were made a
British mandate. Seven years later Great
Britain renounced its mandatory rights and
recognized the country as an independent
kingdom. The area is about 143,250 square
miles and the population in 1942 was esti-
mated at 5,000,000.

Agriculture has always been the basis of
the general economy. The ^alluvial soil is
exceptionally fertile and, where irrigation
is available, crops are dependable. Un-
irrigated fields, limited to the more humid
north or areas where ground water lies
close to the surface, commonly experience
drought and crop failure at least one year
in four or five. The irrigation system is com-
plex and requires extensive government
supervision. Many of the projects, both
ancient and modern, involve elaborate
canal systems. Where these become useless,
large areas must be abandoned. Widespread
ruins of canals and towns in what is now
desert do not necessarily imply climate
changes. Irrigation, systems may fail to
operate through such causes as the destruc-
tion of diversion works in the rivers, the
erosion of river beds below the intake level
of the canals, breaks in the canal systems
where carried on aqueducts or hillsides,
accumulation of silt in the canals so that
their capacity is reduced, or any one of
many political causes. Excess silting

was apparently a common reason for
abandonment.

Modern irrigation works have greatly
added to the cultivable area. Unlike the
ancient canals which were filled only during
the flood stage of the rivers, these works
involve a dam which raises the water level
so that there is a dependable supply at all
seasons. It has been estimated that the area
which it may be possible to irrigate is as
much as 6,000,000 acres, of which less than
1,000,000 are now supplied with water.

Dates are the most important crop with
an estimated 30,000,000 trees, one-third
of all the date palms in the world. These
form the country’s chief agricultural ex-
port, second only to oil. The chief date
area is along the Shatt al Arab, especially
in the vicinity of Basra where there is a
continuous oasis for 100 miles, one to two
miles in width. This area leads the world
in the export trade in dates, for it furnishes
three-fourths of the supply. There is an
old saying that date palms grow with their
heads in the fire and their feet in the
water.

Barley is the safest winter cereal, usually
raised on unirrigated fields as it grows in a
short season and demands a minimum of
rainfall, but wheat is also grown. These dry
crops of northern Iraq are harvested in
April and May. Irrigated rice and corn are
grown in the south and har\ested in the
fall. Opium is an imi>ortant crop in the
south.

A million acres are suitable for cotton,
which is as large an area as utilized in
Egypt. The quality is equally high. The
original stimulus for the growth came from
German interests when that country was
interested in the Berlin to Bagdad Railway
and its associated economic and political
implications.

Iraq’s wool is among the best. It is the
chief item in the economy of unirrigated
areas with less than 10 inches of rainfall.

406

Iraq

The exploitation of petroleum has ma-
terially influenced the life of Iraq and has
provided a large revenue to the govern-
ment. Production dates from 19 ^ 7 , Much
of the production is obtained in the vicinity
of Mosul, near ancient Ninevah in the
north, especially from the Kirkuk, Naft
Khaneh, and Quiarah fields. The normal
production just prior to the Second World
War amounted to 30,000,000 barrels. A
pipe line extends eastward 1,150 miles to
the Mediterranean, with terminals at
Haifa in Palestine and at Tripoli in Syria.
Oil seepages and burning gas jets have been
known since early centuries and may

account for Biblical references to the
“burning firey furnace.’*

Two cities dominate Iraq: the ancient
trade center of Bagdad on the central
Tigris and the modern seaport of Basra.
Mosul in the oil fields is third in
importance.

Geographic regions closely parallel natu-
ral conditions, with the major contrasts
between the alluvial plain or ancient delta
in the south, with its irrigation possibilities,
and the dry-farming hilly land of the south.
The mountainous areas of Kurdistan and
Zagros in the extreme north and east
provide still other environments.

Chapter 27

IRAN

Among the countries of Southwestern
Asia, Iran, formerly known as Persia,
rank? second to Arabia in size and second
to Turkey in importance. Like the latter,
it is in the midst of transition. Many of the
cultural changes are associated with the
development of improved communications
such as the 865-mile Trans-Iranian Rail-
way from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian
Sea. This route was completed in 1938 and
became a major supply line for military
shipments from the United States to the
Soviet Union during the Second World
War.

Iran and Turkey have further parallels in
their surface configuration. Each has en-
circling mountains on the north and south
which close to the east but provide easier
access from the west. In both cases there is
little room for a coastal plain, and high
plateau basins occupy the arid interior.
The mountains of northern Iran are the
Elburz and Khorassan, a continuation of
the Pontus to the west and the Hindu Kush
system on the east. Western and southern
Iran is bordered by the Zagros, Ears, and
Makran mountains.

All these ranges are part of the dual sys-
tem that extends from the Aegean Sea to
the Pamirs and eastward around Tibet.
Enclosed within the mountains are succes-
sively the plateaus of Anatolia, Armenia,
and Iran, The pattern is somewhat like a
giant compound hourglass, on its side, with
its constrictions corresponding to the
Armenian and Pamir knots. Iran is part of
the great Alpine-Hitnalaya fold system,
with a series of Paleozoic and Mesozoic

sedimentary formations laid down in an
ancient sea known as Tethys.

The Elburz are a formidable barrier.
They almost bar access from the Caspian
littoral to interior Iran except at the west
where a road leads to the port of Pahlevi
near Resht, and in the east where the rail-
way crosses to Bandar Shah. The highest
summit is Mt. Demavend, 18,549 feet. The
Elburz are continued eastward in the lower
and wider Khorassan Mountains which
become the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan.
Where level land and irrigation water are
available, as around Meshed, there is a
dense population; elsewhere the land forms
restrict settlement.

The Zagros Mountains along the south-
west of the Iranian plateau are a series of
high parallel ranges and longitudinal val-
leys which are the continuation of the
Kurdistan in upper Iraq. One elevation
reaches 12,850 feet, but 8,000 is the general
height of the ridge crests. These mountains
are a succession of anticlines and synclines,
somewhat in Appalachian style. The
streams flow in a trellis pattern, with broad
valleys along the axis of the folds and
narrow antecedent canyons at right angles.
Belts of high mountain meadows and
forests alternate with dry lowland valleys.
For centuries, shepherds have moved up
and down the slopes with the season. This
vertical nomadism is known as trans-
humance. The humid Zagros are succeeded,
by the drier Fars and equally arid Makran
next to India.

The interior is by no means a single
basin, for low ranges divide it into a series

A mud-walled village amid the barren uplands of Iran. {Alice Sckalek^ from Three Lions.)

are semiactive. Within the enclosing moun-
tain rims, slopes lead inward rather than
outward. Each basin has its terminal salt
lake or playa flat toward which the wither-
ing streams make their way. The largest of
the interior basins is Seistan, on the Afghan-
istan and Baluchistan border. The elevation
here is 2,000 feet whereas most other parts
of the plateau are twice or three times that
height. Two large lakes lie at the extreme
east and west of Iran, Lakes Helmand and
Urumlyeh, each of them a hundred miles in
length. Since runoff is usually inadequate,
the load of the streams is deposited en route
so that huge alluvial fans encircle the
dissected mountains. These gravel slopes
are exceptionally large and where they
merge they form a continuous piedmont.
The interrupted character of the plateau
is especially pronounced toward the east.
The entire area between the Tigris and the

mountains melt, thousands of dry water-
courses are filled with water and fill the
innumerable shallow depressions of inner
Iran. Few rivers on the plateau have a year-
round flow to a terminal lake, so that they
are not a dependable source of water for
summer irrigation.

The deserts of Iran are among the world’s
driest. In the eastern area known as Lut are
exceptionally large dunes, some of them
with a height of 700 feet, as compared with
the maximum of 600 feet in the Takla-
makan and 500 feet in the Sahara. The
Desert of Lut is so dry that in parts there
are almost no erosion channels to indicate
that water ever runs over the surface. Great
deposits of wind-blown silt are associated
with these dunes, but since they are
stratified and hence laid down in an ancient
lake, they cannot be called true loess. In
July a temperature of llO^F. was recorded

Iran

409

with a relative humidity of 4.2 per cent.
Seistan is noted for its “Wind of 120 days’’
which blows from the north and northwest
starting in May; velocities reach 70 miles
per hour.

Most of Iran is a boulder-strewn and
wind-swept desert. Nearly two-thirds of it
is so dry that no drainage escapes to the
sea. After the winter rains there may be a
carpet of short grass and bright flowers, but
this soon withers and there is little steppe
grass for pasturage. Much of the interior
has but 4 or 5 inches of rain a year, for
example Isfahan with 5 inches. Even
Bushire on the Persian Gulf receives only
11 inches. The rainfall at Teheran is
9.3 inches.

All of this moisture comes from weak
cyclonic storms that invade the plateau
from the west several times a month in
winter. The amount and distribution are
very erratic. Along the Persian Gulf half the
annual precipitation may fall in a single
day. Mountain slopes in the path of
moisture-bearing winds have a snow cover,
but there is enough rain for forests in only
a few locations. The one exception is the
north slope of the Elburz opposite the
Caspian whence north winds bring moisture
from the sea. Here the precipitation is 50
inches and more, and there is a luxuriant
forest. In striking contrast, the south slopes
are barren. The Caspian coastal plain is too
wet, and, although fertile and productive,
parts of it are unhealthy on account of the
swamps and malaria. Immediately to the
south, in the lee of the Elburz range,
the plateau plain is an arid waste where
all cultivation depends upon irrigation.

Temperatures are lowered by the alti-
tude, but the bright sun keeps thermom-
eter readings comparable to those in Iraq.
Thus Teheran has a July average of 85®P.
and a maximum of 110°F. Skies are clear
most of the year. Strong winds, usually
from the north in winter and south in

summer, carry clouds of dust and make
travel impossible. It is possible that the
highest temperatures on earth may occur

Teheran

Elevation, 4,008 feet; average temperature, 61.7°F.;
total precipitation, 9.3 inches.

in the deserts of Iran, particularly in Lut,
although no observations yet exceed the
record 136.4®F. of Azizia in north Africa.

Agriculture depends upon irrigation, and
this in turn involves a unique system of
tunnels, even ten or twenty miles in lengthy
which bring water from distant sources.
These aqueducts are known as kanats, or
karez, widely copied through Southwestern
Asia and even in Sinkiang. Many of them
date back for centuries. The construction
of a kanat usually begins on a gentle slope
and gradually works underground in the
direction of the dry river bed or alluvial
fan where it is hoped to find water. The
tunnel is only two or three feet in dimen-
sions and has a slope just sufficient to carry
water. At necessary intervals a shaft leads
to the surface through which the debris is
removed. When the source of water is
reached, lateral tunnels are dug to increase
the collection.

Many villages are lined up along these
underground streams, with wells every 20
yards. As many as a thousand wells may
tap the same tunnel. Where the kanat
comes to the surface the stream is divided

410

Iran

The courtyard of a caravansary with its stables for camels on the ground floor and rooms for travelers above.

{Ewing Galloway.)

One of the principal streets of Teheran, with the Elburz Mountains in the background. (S. F. Mack, courtesy

Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.)

Iran

411

into irrigation ditches. These elaborate
systems are expensive and require frequent
attention. Where they fall into disrepair,
several villages and extensive fields may
have to be abandoned.

Cereals and other crops raised in winter
are irrigated after the rains, from March
till June, while summer crops require water
from May till September. Dry farming is
possible only at elevations over 6,000 feet
where precipitation is greater and evapora-
tion less. Yields on dry fields are usually
only tenfold but may be double that
amount if the late rains are abundant.
Wheat, barley, and rye are sown after the
first rains, which usually fall between
November and January. Summer crops are
millet, corn, cotton, and rice, with most of
the latter grown along the Caspian plain.
Tobacco is widely grown, and opium is an
important cash crop and export. Persian
silk was famous three and four centuries
ago but is unimportant today. All crop
yields are low, and methods might be
improved. The ten million date palms grow
largely along the Persian Gulf, and the
dates are raised for export to England.
Vineyards are chiefly located in the interior.

Persian carpets are world famous but
rank only a poor second to oil in the export
trade. They are made on hand looms in
small shops or homes.

Automobile roads and railways have
provided avenues for the modernization of
ancient Persia. These include new roads
from Bagdad through Hamadan to Tehe-

ran, from Teheran across the Elburz to
Pahlevi, and eastward to Meshed, plus a
network in the interior. The pride of Iran
is the rail line from Bandar Shapur on
the Persian Gidf to Bandar Shah on the
Caspian. Other lines at right angles to this
lead entirely across the north of the coun-
try, from the Soviet Union to the Afghan
frontier.

The oil fields of Iran are even more pro-
ductive than those of Iraq. The normal
prewar yield reached 86,250,000 barrels.
Most of this was obtained from the Haft
Kel and Mesjid-i-sulaiman fields near the
head of the Persian Gulf. There is also an
important yield at Naft-i-shah opposite
the Iraq fields. The production is controlled
by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. No
other natural resources are produced in
quantity, although a variety of minerals
are known to be present at least in small
amounts. A poor grade of cpal is mined in
the Elburz Mountains north of Teheran.

Teheran, the capital, has over 200,000
people and is a relatively modern city. It
has a splendid winter climate with clear
skies and exhilarating frosty air; summers
are hot but the air is dry. In contrast is
Isfahan whose ancient splendors are such
that the Persians write “This is half the
world.” Its population numbers about
100,000. In the northwest is Tabriz with
some 200,000. The population of all Iran
was estimated as 15,055,155 in 1942, in an
area of 628,000 square miles.

Chapter 28
AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan has dose relations with both Eussia. The country has little to invite
India and the Soviet Union and so might conquest for itself but it is a potential
with some justice be grouped with either highway from India to northern Asia and

The capital city of Kabul lies amid the barren highlands of Afghanistan. {Pix.)

realm, but its climatic and cultural ties Europe. On its two borders are rival im-

with Iran are such that it is placed with perialisms and ideologies. Thus the wise

Southwestern Asia. This is the easternmost and cruel Amir Abdur Rahman, who ruled

limit of Mediterranean type winter rain, this country in the last two decades of the

although the amount is very low. Eleva- nineteenth century, wrote in his autobiog-

tions are higher than in Iran, but land raphy, “This poor goat, Afghanistan, is a

forms and land use are similar. victim at which a lion on one side and a

The world significance of Afghanistan terrible bear from the other side are staring

has been as a buffer between Britain and and ready to swallow at the first oppor-

412

Afghanistan

tunity afforded to them.** Despite this fact,
the Afghans have maintained their inde-
pendence with reckless courage. The tribes
along India’s northwest frontier have given
Britain more trouble for a century than
any other people along the Indian border.
Over the centuries the Afghans have
emerged from their mountain fortress to
conquer Iran, Bukhara, and Baluchistan,
as well as parts of India. The threat to
Afghanistan’s freedom has been greatest on
the north, for the country offers easier
access on that side.

Afghanistan has an area of 250,000
square miles, about the size of Texas, and
the population exceeds 12,000,000. Several
racial divisions are represented, Mongol,
Turkish, Indo-Iranian, and others, but
nearly all the people are Mohammedans.
Different customs, traditions, languages,
and ways of life, such as the agriculturalist
and pastoralist, all make national unity
difficult.

The Hindu Kush extend westwe-rd from
the Pamirs through central Afghanistan
and form a mountainous backbone some
150 miles in width. These magnificent
mountains rise to three miles and more.
Most passes are closed by snow in winter.
Vegetation tends to be more luxuriant on
north slopes. To the north are the plains of
Bactria with one of the ancient highways
from China to Europe. This is an excellent
grazing ground, traditionally visited in
summer by Uzbek and Khirgiz shepherds
with their sheep and horses. Prior to the
war, over a million fine karakul lambskins
were exported each year. Even locally they
sell for $10 each. Conditions resemble the
piedmont lowlands of Soviet Middle Asia.
In the southwest of Afghanistan are the
desert basins of Registan and Seistan,
which cover a quarter of the country. In
the east are fertile valleys around Kabul
and Kandahar, famous for their fruit,

41S

wheat, and rice. This is the most densely
inhabited region. Most of the region lies
above 4,000 feet. The rainfall is below 15
inches in all settled areas.

Where irrigation is possible, two crops a
year may be grown. Wheat and barley are
raised in the winter, while millet, com,
sorghum, rice, and tobacco are summer
crops. Fruit is an important part of the
diet and includes apples, pears, peaches,
apricots, cherries, grapes, and figs. Grazing
is widespread, with fat-tailed sheep as a
large source of wealth.

The lack of topographic coherence makes
political unity difficult. There is a large
measure of cultural conservatism, but in-
dustries and social reforms are making
headway. It is a measure of Afghanistan’s
isolation that foreigners are known as
“feringi,” the name used by the Turks to
characterize the Crusaders. Indian railways
on the southern border and Soviet lines in
the north compete for the limited foreign
trade. The leading exports are wool and
skins including karakul lamb, while imports
consist of textiles and other manufactured
goods.

Automobile roads lead into the capital
of Kabul from Iran via Herat and Kan-
dahar with connections from Baluchistan,
from Peshwar in India by way of the 40-
mile Khyber Pass, and from Termez in
the Soviet Union by two roads over the
Hindu Kush, one of which crosses the
Shibar Pass at 10,500 feet. Kabul has
a population of about 200,000, while Herat
numbers some 35,000.

Oil occurs near the northern and
western borders; other minerals appear
unimportant.

Archaeological explorations are just begin-
ning but give promise of striking dis-
coveries. Many of the ancient art objects
are of great beauty.

Chapter 29

INDIANS PHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS

In official British parlance, the Indian
Empire is often described as the subconti-
nent of India. In many ways it is an island

Three girls of Travancore, south India. {Courtesy
Indian State Railways,)

by itself. So far as effective intercourse
is concerned, The Himalaya might almost
as well be the frozen Arctic Ocean. No
part of Eurasia is so detached as this realm.
Indifl is as big and as populous as all of
western Europe, and its claim to con-
tinentality is better than that of Europe.
Devoid of good harbors or important near
neighbors, India remained isolated until
modem times. Even today, no railway
crosses its borders.

Extraordinary physical contrasts charac-
terize India. It contains one of the wettei^ft
spots on earth as well as one of the driest;

the highest and largest of all mountain
ranges border vast river lowlands; dense
rain forests contrast with lifeless desert; in
some areas the problem of agriculture is
too much water while elsewhere there is too
little. All of these are India. Unlike Japan,
with its pattern of microscopic detail, the
topographic features of India group them-
selves into simple major units. Local con-
trasts exist but are subordinate.

India has charm and glamour, but it also
has poverty and problems. The cultural
landscape everywhere reflects the intensity
of man’s quest for livelihood in a land of
uncertain rainfall. Wherever the environ-
ment permits, crops are grown to the limit.
Here is monsoon Asia at its climax, with a
seasonal rhythm of rainfall which affects
all of man’s activities. Although the aver-
age rainfall is generally high, its effective-
ness is restricted by high temperatures and
high evaporation. Surprisingly large parts
of the subcontinent are semiarid and even
desert.

One of the great problems of India is
that it appears to have too many people; it
scarcely seems possible that so many can
live on so little and have much opportunity
for the obviously needed increase in stand-
ards of living. The population increased
between 1931 and 1941 by 50 million, to
reach a total of 388 million in all India.
How long can this continue?

India, like China, is not merely a place
on the map; here is a rich culture, the
product of centuries of contemplative
living. Whatever the political future of this
land, it has a notable contribution to the

415

Geology and Land Forms

trade and civilization of the rest of the ^ ^ „

world G^oloQy dfid Latid F OTnrts

Within India are 1,808,679 square miles Within the Indian Bealm are three
of mountains, hills, and plains. From the entirely different areas, unlike in geological

The tomb of Itmaduddaula at Agra is one of the finest examples of Mogul architecture. {Courtesy Indian

State Railways.)

borders of Iran eastward to the frontier of history, surface configuration, and utiliza-
China is about 2,300 miles, while from the tion. These are the mountain wall of The
southern tip of the peninsula to northern Himalaya and other encircling ranges; the
Kashmir is 2,000 miles. The Tropic of plains of Hindustan drained by the Indus,
Cancer cuts midway between north and Ganges, and Brahmaputra; and the dis-
south, but all of India south of the moun- sected plateau in the peninsula to the
tain wall is essentially tropical. south.

The Indian Realm as here considered In the whole of peninsular India there is
includes Ceylon but not Burma, which has not a single marine fossil, except in mar-
been separated from the Indian Empire ginal strips that show local sea invasions,
since 1935 and is placed with Southeastern Much of the country is underlain by a base-
Asia. ment complex of highly metamorphic

416

India's Physical Foundations

schist and gneiss, with some granitic intru- Despite their vast antiquity, these sedi-
tions. Preserved within long troughs or ments are undisturbed and testify to the
depressions among these crystallines are stability of much of India since the Pre-

India's plains are chiefly in the lowlands of the Indus* Ganges, and Brahmaputra. Most of the peninsula is
hilly, while mountains enclose the country on the north.

altered sediments, now phyllites, slates, Cambrian. Thus the peninsula is one of the
and marbles. From the latter is secured great positive areas of Asia, a massif which
beautiful building stone, such as used by has remained undeformed and above sea
the Moguls in the Taj Mahal. All of these level.

are Archeozoic in age. Overlying them, and Near the close of the Paleozoic, sand-
apparently Proterozoic, are great thick- stones and shales accumulated in fresh-
nesses of limestone, shale, and sandstone, water basins. Along with these were beds of

417

Geology and Land Forms

coal, especially in the northeast. Permian 90 feet- thick. Basalt and andesite are
glacial evidences in latitude 17®N., and in typical, with rhyolite in some places,
the Salt Range, latitude 33® N., present un- Associated ash and tuff are present, as well

The railway from Bombay to Poona climbs a 3 per cent grade to rise up the escarpment of the Western Ghats.

{Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

solved problems, for the tillite in the latter as interbedded sediments. These hori-
area contains boulders whose sources lay zontal flows are responsible for many flat-
750 miles to the south. topped hills and dissected escarpments.

The latest important episode in pen- * No satisfactory term describes the area
insular geology began in the Cretaceous south of the Indus and Ganges lowland,
and continued into the Tertiary when Not all of it is actually peninsular, nor is
enormous lava flows buried much of the it all a dissected plateau. The term Deccan
western area. Despite much erosion around is variously used; by some it is restricted
the margins, the area still covered is to the area of lava flows in the west; by
200,000 square miles. The maximum thick- others the term is applied to all the up-
ness is unknown, but near Bombay are land south of the Satpura line, to be de-
exposures of at least 6,000 feet. Separate scribed later; again it may embrace the
layers of these fissure flows are from 6 to entire area below Hindustan. It will here

418

^India's Physical Foundations

be used for the triangular plateau part of continuation in the Cardamom Hills at the
the peninsula, as bounded on the north by tip of the Deccan.

the Satpura line. The Deccan slopes eastward, so that the

The Gersoppa or Jog Falls, near Shimoga in Mysore, have a height of 860 feet. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Escarpments border each side of the three mam rivers have their source in the
Deccan. On the west are the Western Western Ghats. From south to north these
Ghats with elevations of half a mile and are the Cauvery, Kistna, and Godavari,
more. These one-sided mountains rise Where they cross the Eastern Ghats the
abruptly from the Arabian Sea, but descend valleys are narrow and the current swift;
gradually to the plateau on the east. The elsewhere the rivers are near base level and
steep-sided valleys facing the ocean are in flow through broad open valleys in late
the same stage of development as the much* maturity. The most ’noticeable topographic
deeper valleys of The Himalaya, suggesting , features are the flat-topped hills and
that the elevation of the Western Ghats scarped edges of the lava flows or hori-
was simultaneous with the uplift of the zontal sandstones. Otherwise structure does
great mountain wall of Tibet. The Eastern not notably influence configuration.

Ghats are a discontinuous line of hills The northern margin of the Deccan is
which mark the inner margin of the coastal less definite. The principal break is the
plain; most elevations are under 3,000 feet. Satpura line between the westward-flowing
These bordering mountains meet in the Narbada and Tapti rivers. This elevation
south to form the Nilgiri Hills, with their continues eastward into the Maikal Range

419

Geology and Land Forms

and the uplands of Chota Nagpur. North
and south of the Satpura Range are the
Vindhya and Ajanta lines, so that the
northern edge of the Deccan is a threefold
zone.

Besides the Deccan there are two other
hilly sections in the peninsular upland:
Malwa in the northwest and Oriya in
the east. The former drains north to the
Ganges and is limited on the west by the
very ancient Aravalli Range which nearly
reaches Delhi. Oriya includes the rugged
hills and valleys in the basin of the Ma-
hanadi River, including the Chota Nagpur
highlands. Although close to Calcutta and
well supplied with coal and iron, Oriya is
one of the least populous and most back-
ward areas south of the mountains.

Coastal plains border both the Arabian
Sea and the Bay of Bengal. On the west,
level land is narrow and discontinuous, for
in places the Ghats come to the sea as
cliffs. The east coast plain continues from
the Ganges to Cape Comorin, and around
Ceylon. The width is 75 miles or less, and
conditions of land use and settlement
somewhat resemble the Ganges Delta.
South of Bombay the littoral is known as
the Konkan and Malabar coasts, whereas
on the east are the Coromandel and
Galconda coasts.

Both eastern and western margins of
peninsular India are almost devoid of
natural harbors. Bare rock walls on the west
are matched by mangrove swamps in the
east. River mouths are particularly unsatis-
factory. At many smaller porjts it is neces-
sary for steamers to discharge cargo 'into
lighters several miles offshore. The few
port cities owe their importance to access
to their hinterland rather than to natural
harbor advantages.

Between the peninsular plateau and the
Himalayan mountain wall lies Hindustan,
most of it a great alluvial plain but includ-
ing the erosional ‘surface of the Thar

Desert in the west. This is the heart of
Indian life and history. Here are India’s
greatest rivers, the Ganges and Brahma-
putra in the east and the Indus in the west.
These rivers and most of their tributaries
rise amid the snow-covered ranges to the
north. Since their flow does not depend
entirely upon the summer monsoon, they
never run dry and are thus of great value
for irrigation in the plains. In contrast, the
rivers to the south in the peninsula are fed
only by the summer rain and are often
nearly dry during the winter.

Few areas of flat alluvium are so exten-
sive. Scarcely a hill or mound is to be
seen. Nearly 1,000 miles from its mouth,
the Ganges is only 500 feet above sea level.
Deposits of sand and clay extend to depths
of thousands of feet, and few pebbles are
found on the surface. The only distinction
is between the older and slightly higher
alluvium with concretions and alkaline
soils, and the newer alluvium without
nodules.

In the northwest, the lowland of the
Indus and the adjoining Thar Desert is
300 to 400 miles wide; along the Ganges
the width is half these figures. Where the
plain is narrowest lies Delhi, the natural
gateway between the crowded ricelands to
the east and the drier wheat country of the
Punjab.

Although topographically similar, the
eastern half with its greater precipitation
has five times the population of western
Hindustan. The Ganges Delta lies in the
province of Bengal, while the Brahmaputra
flows across Assam. Two regional names are
used in the Indus Valley; the lower portion
is the Sind while that near the mountains
is Punjab. The latter derives its name from
the fact that it is drained by five tributaries
of the Indus: the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi,
Beas, and Sutlej.

The ancient geography of southern Asia
was once very unlike the present. Where

420

Indians Physical Foundations

now rise The Himalaya was once a long sea
that extended westward to Europe. This
ancient Mediterranean is known as Tethys,
a subsiding geosyncline which received
vast quantities of marine deposits from the
Cambrian to the mid-Cenozoic. From the
end of the Eocene into the late Pliocene,
this trough of sediments was subjected to
powerful compression from the north
against the peninsula. Most of the orogeny
was in the Miocene ; the sea was obliterated,
and the towering Himalaya took its place.
Beds that were once horizontal are now
powerfully faulted, folded, and overturned
on a grand scale, and flank a central igneous
core. Structure guides topography, with
linear ranges following the direction of
folding.

Fringing the main rampart which ex-
tends 1,500 miles from the Indus to the
Brahmaputra are lower mountains, known
as foothills even though they rise to 5,000
feet. The chief of these are the Siwaliks,
which give their name to the great system
of ancient river deposits of which they are
composed. These beds resemble those now
accumulating in Hindustan and are from
16,000 to 20,000 feet in thickness. The
Miocene and Pliocene fauna is famous for
its variety of mammalian remains. Appar-
ently these beds accumulated as ancient
alluvial fans in a foredeep much as the
present sediments of the Ganges and
Indus. North of the Siwaliks are still other
deformed geosynclines.

Occasional earthquakes in Assam and
the Punjab indicate that movement is still
under way.

On the northwest, north, and northeast
of Hindustan the mountains rise abruptly
from the plain. From one end to another
the rampart is continuous, although a
variety of ranges marks both ends. The
chief mountains in the west are the
Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges, which extend
from the Makran coast toward the Pamirs.

No single name can be given the Assam
mountains in the east, nor is their structural
relation to The Himalaya entirely clear.
The general trend is north-south, but
there is a western offshoot in the Xhasi
Hills. The main range is The Himalaya,
but behind its western end lie other ranges,
including the Karakorum. In this inner
range rises K^, the second highest mountain
on earth, 28,250 feet, while in the eastern
Himalaya is Mt. Everest, 29,141 feet.

Behind the mountain wall are two areas
of the Indian Empire: Baluchistan and
Kashmir; beyond them are Iran and
Afghanistan. To the north are Tibet,
Nepal, and Bhutan. Few passes cross the
front ranges. No roads lead from India
to Burma so that all contact is by the sea.
The same was true of Iran Until the Second
World War. North to Tibet are several
passes near Darjeeling and others from
the Punjab. From Kashmir several passes
connect with Chinese Sinkiang, including
the 18,550-foot Karakorum Pass and the
main trail by way of Gilgit.

Even before the conquests by Alexander
the Great in 326 b.c. the northwestern
frontier was the avenue of invaders. The
Khyber Pass leads to Kabul in Afghanistan
and the Bolan Pass to Quetta in Balu-
chistan; between them is the Gomal Pass.
These and other gateways have been of
great historical significance to India and
to the capital at Delhi, comparable to the
relations in China between the Nankow
Pass and Peiping. There is a coastal avenue
to Iran along the Makran coast in southern
Baluchistan.

Climate

It has well been said that although every
schoolboy understands the Indian monsoon,
the oflBcial meteorological department is
still in doubt as to its origin. Nowhere else
are so many people so intimately dependent
upon rainfall rhythms ;tthe whole prosperity

Climate

of India is tied up with the eccentricities
of its seasonal winds. Other lands have
their climatic personality, but in few is it
so prominent or meaningful. Alternately
India is lush and green, or a dreary brown;
supersaturated atmosphere gives way to
extreme aridity. Seasonality thus dominates
aU life.

The conventional explanation has been
that the monsoon circulation is the result
of thermal relations between land and sea.
Thus a heated continent means that the air
is expanding, rising, and overflowing with
resulting low pressure above the land and
high pressures on the encircling sea. Surface
winds would thus blow landward during the
summer and seaward in winter. The winds
from the sea bring rain, while the descend-
ing and outblowing air is dry.

This oversimplification cannot be quite
true. We now know that the Indian circula-
tion is independent of temperatures and
pressures in central Asia, because of the
Himalaya barrier. Furthermore, heat alone
is not enough explanation. India is hotter in
May before the summer monsoon than in
July when the circulation is at its height;
temperatures also remain high after the end
of the monsoon. If heat and low pressure
alone were the answer, the area of heaviest
rainfall would correspond with rising air,
whereas the hottest part of India is actually
the driest. The monsoon fluctuates from
year to year, but the highest summer tem-
peratures are correlated with years of low
monsoon precipitation.

In the tropical oceans there are no mon-
soons, and none would exist in India were
it not for the climatic conditions that arise
because of the proximity of land and sea.
These latitudes lie in the zone of the trade
winds, and, if the earth were all water or
all land, there would be a steady circulation
due to lower pressure and rising air at the
thermal equator. In the Northern Hemi-
sphere the equatorward winds are turned

to their right, according to FerreFs law,
and become northeast and progressively
easterly winds as they approach the low
pressure doldrums; below the equator are
the southeast trades.

Since the axis of the earth is tilted, the
vertical rays of the sun shift with the
season 233^° alternately toward the respec-
tive pole, causing the thermal equator to
move to a lesser degree with. them. Thus
the trade-wind belts migrate north and
south. If this were all, the northeast trades
over India would shift southward in the
winter, bringing their associated subtropi-
cal high pressure with them. In summer the
southeast trades would cross the geographi-
cal equator and invade southern India.

Apparently the monsoons represent a
modification of these conditions. As the
sun advances northwards during the spring,
the equatorial low pressure belt moves also,
though with a lag. Over the Bay of Bengal
and the Arabian Sea, weak high pressure
anticyclones feed the northeast trade winds,
but this flow of equatorward air is not so
strong as the southeast trades developed
over the uninterrupted Indian Ocean.

Land heats faster than water, and, coin-
cident with the Arabian Sea and Bay of
Bengal highs, low pressure circulation
develops over Indo-China and strong lows
form over India and Arabia. The normal
northward retreat of subtropical high pres-
sure is blocked by the low pressure belt over
these lands north of the triangular-shaped
seas, so that, in turn, the migration of the
thermal equator is checked in spite of its
unbalanced predominance of southerly
trades.

During late May and early June, this
unbalanced low pressure belt, on reaching
the tip of India, cuts the connection be-
tween the two restraining anticyclones
over the sea, and the belt abruptly shifts
northward to central and northern India
and southeastern Asia generally to join the

42 £

Indians Physical Foundations

local lows already developed there. Thus soon is therefore an accentuated and di-
the southeast trades rush north to join the verted trade wind shifted from the Southern
cyclonic circulation over the land. This totheNorthernHemisphere. Onearmof the

The rainfall of India ranges from less than 5 inches per year in the northwest to more than 400 inches in
the hills along the Western Coast and at the head of the Bay of Bengal. {After H. G. Champion, ** Indian For-
est Records,** and E. K. Cook, ** Geography of Ceylon.**)

change occurs with such suddenness that monsoon from the Arabian Sea strikes the
the monsoon is said to break. During July, western mountainous coast of the peninsula
the mean monsoon velocity at Bombay is of India nearly at right angles. Over the
14 miles per hour. Bay of Bengal the movement is more from

As the southeast trades cross the geo- the south, but upon reaching the mountains
graphical equator, the rotation of the earth the circulation is deflected upward over the
turns them to their right, and they become Kliasi Hills and to the right and left, up
the southwest monsoon. The summer mon- the Brahmaputra and Ganges valleys.

Climate

423

Since the trade winds have crossed sev-
eral thousand miles of warm Indian Ocean,
they arrive in India with a high moisture
content. However, the land is even warmer
than the sea so that sufficient cooling for
condensation requires uplift of about 500
feet. This is admirably illustrated by the
heavy rainfall on the Western Ghats and
northern mountains. Within the plateau,
convectional storms account for much of
the rain. This is also true over Hindustan,
but here a third cause of rising air is pro-
duced by the crowding and convergence of
air streams next to the mountains.

Just before the monsoon breaks, the
instability of the frontal atmosphere de-
velops local thundershowers on land and
even tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea
and Bay of Bengal that bring what are often
known as the mango rains, since this fruit
is just maturing. Similar storms continue,
but with less intensity, throughout the
period of the southern monsoon and 'yield
considerable rain. Cyclones are especially
active at the end of the summer, when their
onshore winds may develop the so-called
tidal waves that inundate east coast deltas.
The sea may rise 10 to 30 feet in half
an hour, as in 1876 when 200,000 were
drowned at Backergunge near the head of
the Bay of Bengal. On Oct. 7, 1937, a storm
wave 40 feet high, accompanying a hurri-
cane, swept up the mouth of the Hooghly
River causing the loss of some 300,000
lives.

The monsoon arrives in the far south
first in Ceylon in early June, then at Tra-
vancore and the tip of Burma by the be-
ginning of June, and reaches Bombay about
June 5. The Bengal branch arrives in
Calcutta by June 15 and progresses up the
Ganges Valley to the Punjab by July 1. The
southerly monsoon continues until mid-
September in the Punjab, mid-October in
Bombay, late October in Calcutta, and
early November in the south. In Calcutta

the monsoon proper lasts from June 15 to
September 15, with intermittent showerS
and high humidity through October. By
that time the sun has shifted southward
beyond the geographical equator, although
the thermal equator lags behind it. The
mechanics necessary for pulling the south-
east trade winds into India are no longer
present, so that the southerly winds grad-
ually weaken and withdraw before the de-
veloping northeast trades.

Variations in the arrival, duration, dis-
tribution, and intensity of the monsoon are
of profound importance but have largely
eluded explanation. We know little about
the causes for trade-wind fluctuations, al-
though there appear to be interesting corre-
lations between such items as pressures over
the Australian deserts and subsequent
Indian rainfall. Other studies show paral-
lelism between Indian drought and low Nile
floods due to diminished Ethiopian rainfall.
Seasonal forecasts are made with consider-
able success.

During winter months, monsoon wind
directions are reversed. Northwest winds
move down the Ganges Valley and turn
southward and southwestward over the
peninsula. These appear to be modified
northeast trade winds. Their velocity is
but half that of the summer monsoon. Nor-
mal winter subtropical high pressure over
the Tropic of Cancer is augmented by local
anticyclonic conditions in. northern India.
These winds blow from October to the end
of February and represent India’s cool
season.

Since the winter monsoon air is descend-
ing and directed seaward, it is dry and
rainless over India. Since Ceylon receives
the northern monsoon off the ocean, its
highlands have ample rain. The Madras
coast also has winter rain, either from cy-
clones or the northeast monsoon which
strikes the Madras coast from the
ocean.

424

Indians Physical Foundations

From December to March northwest
India has a procession of weak cyclonic
storms which move across the Punjab from
Iran. This is a branch of the cyclonic path
that divides in western Europe and moves
through the Mediterranean and Asia Mi-
nor, in contrast to the main route through
Germany and the Soviet Union. Presum-
ably the Indian storms continue into China,
where they are well known, but almost no
lows are recorded in the lower Ganges
Valley and their influence does not reach
the Deccan. From December to March
these shallow depressions bring variable
winds and a few inches of rain to the wheat
fields of the upper Indus. The total rainfall
is low but significant. Much of the Kara-
korum snow cover is derived from these
winds. Winter is a dry season of clear skies
except in Madras, and in the Punjab
and Northwest Frontier where winter is a
slightly rainy season.

Air travel has called for increased infor-
mation as to winds aloft, so that something
is known of the thickness of the monsoons.^
In June, southwesterly winds prevail at
one and two kilometers, but from three to
six kilometers the wind is from the north-
west, veering to the northeast in the
peninsula. In July and August the mon-
soon thickens to four kilometers, but
throughout the summer, east winds prevail
at six and eight kilometers. The northerly
monsoon is three kilometers thick in
October, with strong west winds aloft all
during the winter. At no season does mon-
soon circulation cross far beyond the
mountain wall. Above four kilometers the
winds are steadily from the west from
December through March.

The Indian Realm has the widest possible

' Ramanatran, K . R., and K. P. Ramakbishnax,
The General Circulation of the Atmosphere over
India and Its Neighbourhood, Memoita of the India
Meteorological Department, Part X (1939), XX VT,
189He45.

variations in rainfall. The heaviest precipi-
tation is orographic, as on the slopes of
the Western Ghats, the Assam Hills, or
the Outer Himalaya. In each of these the
amount exceeds 200 inches. The wettest
spot is Cherrapunji in the Khasi Hills of
Assam. This station stands at the edge of
the hills where great masses of air crowd
against the 4,000-foot cliffs. For the
72-year period ending in 1930, the average
rainfall was 451.6 inches, almost all of it
concentrated in half the year.^ Annual
totals vary from 283 inches in 1908 to an
11-month record of 905 inches in 1861.
The rainfall in the single month of July,
1861, reached 366 inches. Some localities
in the Western Ghats may even be
wetter.

Most of the rainfall on the lowlands is
associated with cyclonic storms that move
westward from the Bay of Bengal. An
inch may fall in ten minutes, and 40 inches
has Been recorded in 24 hours. The rainy
season is not continuous and there may be
days or weeks of clear skies in the drier
areas. Parts of the Sind have almost no
rainfall, and yet Doorbaji, with an annual
average of 5 inches, once received 34 inches
in two days.

Rain shadows are pronounced. Thus in
the Deccan, southern Madras, and Tibet
the yearly total drops to 20 inches or less.
When the winds move down slope, foehn
warming and evaporation occur.

Not only is the monsoon eccentric in
the total amount of precipitation, but
variations in its beginning or end or con-
centration may be even more serious.
When periods of lessened rainfall or other
irregularities occur two years in succession,
widespread disaster may result.

^ The world’s heaviest known rainfall is on the
slopes of Mt. Waialeale on the island of Hawaii in
the path of the trade winds. The average for the
20-year period ending 1938 was 460.2 inches. See
Chap. 1.

nature then comes to life. Despite the high
sun, the ocean air and clouds keep the day
temperature in the nineties. The heat in-
creases from south to north as the winds
lose their effect. Humidity is high, but
breezes make it bearable. In Bombay,
June to September temperatures average
82°F. for day and night, while in Calcutta
the figure is 84°F. Conditions are even
mo^e unpleasant just after the rains, for
the humidity is high and, although the
thermometer is lower, sensible temper-
atures increase. During the rainy period,
it is difficult to dry one’s clothing except
over a fire. Furniture put together with
glue is apt to come apart. Books and shoes
mildew overnight.

in the south, through February. Light
frosts occur in the Ganges Valley, and the
clear skies make the climate attractive to
the European although poorly clad Indians
may complain bitterly of the cold.

The hot season begins in March. Tem-
peratures rise to 100°F. or more in the day-
time, but the nights are cooler. The sun is
nearly vertical in April and May and the
air relatively still. All work is suspended at
mi<J-day, for heat and glare are intense as
the molten sun shines from a cloudless sky.
Dust storms and tornadoes are locally
destructive.

Despite marked variations in rainfall,
Indian climate is essentially a unit. Al-
though only half the country is actually

426

Indians Physical Foundations

within the tropics, the mountain wall is so
^i^ffective a barrier that northern India is
3 to 5®F. warmer than corresponding lati-
tudes in the United States. It therefore
seems a mistake to divide India as is done
by Koeppen, with an Aw type of climate in
the south and Cw in the north; both seem
really tropical, with dry winters. The con-
trast between the bulk of India and the
desert and steppe, BS and BW^ of the
northwest is valid.

As average annual rainfall diminishes
from place to place and as it becomes more
concentrated in one season, variations
from year to year increase.^ When the
normal total is under £0 inches, no agricul-
ture is attempted without irrigation, and
rainfall fluctuations are expected and
planned for. Where the total exceeds 80
inches, there is almost always a surplus of
moisture. Forty inches of rain is normally
adequate but, when it fails, famine is
threatened. Thus, the most seriously af-
fected areas are those where there is
usually almost enough water. In most of
India some 30 inches of rain are needed to
allow for evaporation, and only the precipi-
tation above that figure is meaningful for
agriculture.

Long experience with rainfall fluctuations
has brought population distribution into
close agreement with climatic possibilities,
but so great is the pressure of people that
too many have occupied the marginal lands
where drought is certain to recur.

Natural Vegetation

India has a rich and diversified flora, but
little of it is distinctive to the country.
Every type of climax vegetation is repre-

' Williamson, A. V. and K. G. T. Clark, The
Variability of the Annual Rainfall of India, Quarterly
Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society (19S1),
LVII, 4S-66. See review with map in Geographical
Review (1931), XXI, 676.

sented except natural grasslands and sa-
vanna. Most vegetation ji^eflects monsoon
alternations of rainfall. There are some
differences north and south of the Tropic of
Cancer, but resemblances are far more
important. Large areas of original forest
have been cleared for agriculture, and
many hill lands are periodically burned
over to ensure a better crop of grass for
grazing. About a fifth of greater India is
oflScially classed as forest, but much of it
is in the Assam Hills or other inaccessible
areas. Where cultivation has been allowed
to lapse, extensive tracts have grown up to
jungle and bamboo thickets. Within the
settled parts of India commercial timber is
so scarce that farm buildings are usually
built of mud.

Throughout India, altitude is more
important than latitude in determining
floristic regions. The Himalayan zone is
especially interesting ecologically. Within
a horizontal distance of 60 miles are repro-
duced essentially all the vegetation types
found in a 3,000-mile traverse of North
America from the tip of Florida to Labra-
dor. On the lower slopes of The Himalaya,
dense tropical forests pass at successively
higher elevations into pine, oak and maple,
birch and fir, mountain meadows, and
bare rock.

Much ’ of the peninsula is by nature a
great monsoon forest land of teak, banyan,
palms, and bamboo. Planted trees such as
the mango replace part of the original
cover. The plains of Hindustan are so ex-
tensively cultivated that portions are now
nearly treeless.

The major factors in the distribution of
forest types are climatic. Soil, drainage,
exposure, and history are locally significant
but do not alter the general picture. The
pattern of natural vegetation thus reflects
the distribution of rainfall, and at the same
time forecasts possibilities of agricultural
utilization.

Natural Vegetation 427

Four major forest types are defined by types from wet to dry; the temperate
Champion.^ These are the tropical forests forests, which also have three moisture
with six associations based largely on associations; and the alpine forms. There

India s varied flora may be generalized as follows (after H. G, Chammon^ Indian Forest Records**):

1. Desert

2. Alpine

8. Dry alpine

4. Moist temperate

5. Wet temperate

6. Subtropical dry forest

7. Subtropical pine forest •

8. Subtropical wet forest

moisture; the subtropical forests with three

1 Champion, H. G., Preliminary Survey of the
Forest Types of India and Burma, Indian Forest
Records^ new series I, No. 1 (1986).

9. Tropical dry evergreen

10. Tropical thorn forest

11. Tropical dry deciduous

12. Tropical moist deciduous

13. Tidal

14. Tropical semievergreen

15. Tropical wet evergreen

are, in addition, tidal forests, the steppe,
and the desert. Not all areas have reached
climax conditions, either on account pf
man’s interference or through other causes.

428

Indians Physical Foundations

The tropical wet evergreen forest is plains, threaded with distributaries. Large
composed of a large number of species areas are flooded with each high tide. Salt
without local dominants. Most trees are water covers the sea margins of such

Tiger hunting in the tall grass of Nepal. {Ewing Galloway.)

150 feet tall, often with straight trunks deltas, but blocked river water inundates
for 100 feet. The canopy is very dense and the interior areas. In such situations there
is laced together by vines. Ground vegeta- are tropical tidal forests, as in the Sundar-
tion is nearly absent, or there may be an bans southeast of Calcutta. Dense stands
undergrowth of canes. Temperature means of mangroves rising to 100 feet are
are near 80®F., and the rainfall is 80 characteristic.

inches, or even 120 inches for optimum The tropical moist deciduous forest is
conditions. The longer the dry season, more open and has purer stands. Trees
the heavier must be the total rainfall, reach 100 feet, with a bamboo under-
These forests reach their greatest develop- growth. Climbing vines are large and
ment in Assam, the foothills of the eastern abundant. This is the representative mon-
Himalaya, and the Western Ghats. soon forest, although the term may also

Tropical semievergreen forests border be applied to drier groups. During the
the evergreen types on the lowlands, rainless period the trees lose their leaves,
where rainfall is somewhat less or where the Drought comes in March and April rather
soil is porous. The forest is dense and from than the cooler season, and new leaves
80 to 120 feet tall. Evergreens predominate may arrive before the monsoon rains,
in the lower canopy with deciduous forms Mean temperatures average above 75 °F.,
rising above them. and the rainfall is 60 to 80 inches with a

,The Ganges, Mahanadi, and various dry season of four to six months. These
east coast rivers meet the sea in low delta forests are the typical home of the important

Natural Vegetation

teak tree. A variant of this type is the sal
forest which flourishes with rainfall down
to 40 inches; this is an important com-
mercial timber. Soil variations produce
local subsidiary types, among them im-
penetrable thickets of bamboo.

Tropical dry deciduous forests have a
continuous but uneven canopy. Many
of the same species present in the moist
forests also grow here but are reduced to
50 feet. Single species cover wide areas.
The lower rainfall limit is 30 inches, and
the undergrowth is drought resistant, or
xerophytic. There is a striking contrast
between the entirely leafless period with
exposed soil, and the luxuriant growth
after the rains.

Thorn forests with acacia, mimosa, and
euphorbia growing 15 to 30 feet high occur
in the drier Deccan and around the Thar
Desert with a rainfall of 10 to 30 inches.

Special conditions of winter rain along
the Madras coast and in Ceylon account
for the tropical dry evergreen forests.
Hard-leaved trees predominate, 30 to
40 feet high.

Subtropical montane forests are found
on the Nilgiri and Cardamom hills, the
higher mountains of the Assam frontier,
the Himalayan foothills, and in Balu-
chistan. Those in the south and northeast
are of the wet type. Along the central
Himalaya pine forests prevail, while in
the northwest are subtropical dry forests.
The subtropical wet forests have average
temperatures of 65 to 75°F. and a wide
range of rainfall, always in excess of 65
inches and up to that of Cherrapunji.
Trees generally rise 70 to 100 feet with a
shrubby undergrowth and many vines.
Elevations range from 3,000 to 6,000
feet. Oaks and chestnuts are usually present.
Subtropical pine forests characteristically
have a pure stand of hard pine. The rainfall
is 40 to 50 inches, and the formation
extends continuously on the southern

429

slopes of the Siwalik Range. Annual
fires, started by natives to drive out wild
animals, or in order that the ash may fer-
tilize the soil, prevent the development of
undergrowth but favor the growth of grass
for grazing. Dry evergreen subtropical
forest is found in the Punjab foothills and
elsewhere in the northwest.

Temperate mountain forests are re-
stricted by temperature requirements to
higher elevations. Rainfall may be 60
to 250 inches. There are considerable
floristic differences between the main
area in The Himalaya and the mountain
summits at the end of the peninsula. As
elevations increase, the wet evergreen
forests of laurel, oak, and chestnut but
without conifers change to moist temperate
forests with pine and beautiful Himalayan
cedar. Heights of 150 feet are not uncom-
mon. These are comparable to the forests
of the temperate zone in Europe and
North America. Altitudes range from

5.000 to 11,000 feet. The dry temperate
forest is present on the inner ranges of
The Himalaya where rainfall is under 40
inches. Winter snow covers the ground to a
depth of 7 feet at 6,000 feet elevation,
14 feet at 8,000 feet, and 18 feet at 10,000
feet.

Alpine vegetation of stunted trees and
rhododendron prevails between 9,000 and
11,500 feet. Larch and birch are the
principal trees. Xerophytic plants requiring
but 10 inches of rainfall live at even
higher elevations. Mountain meadows with
buttercups and primroses grow up to

18.000 feet.

The Indus Valley and Baluchistan
have the sparsest vegetation, partly true
desert and in part marginal steppe. The
Thar Desert is actually somewhat more
humid than areas nearer the Indus now
irrigated. Only specialized xerophytic forms
can survive the aridity and extremely
high temperatures.

430

Indians Physical Foundations

The term jungle is an Indian word for a of the Ganges, Indus, and smaller rivers
rank growth of brush, vines, and tall grass, exemplify the newer alluvium, while the
often growing on abandoned land. older alluvium occupies interstream areas

. •vT'T'c '

The arid landscape of Sind, two miles east of Karachi. Where the lower Indus Valley is unirrigated the landscape
is that of the adjoining Thar Desert. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Four major soil types are present in
India: the alluvial soils of Hindustan,
some of them with steppe or desert char-
acteristics; the black regur soils of the
Deccan; the red soils of the southern and
eastern peninsula; and the soils with
lateritic characteristics.^

The older Pleistocene alluvium is red-
dish brown in color with lime concretions
from one to four inches in diameter which
are known as kunkur. This soil is the
bhangar, in contrast to the modern al-
luvium or khadar. Present-day alluvial
soils are more sandy and seldom contain
concretions. The deltas and flood plains

^ScHOKALBKY, Z. J., The Natural Conditions of
Soil Formation in India, Contributions to the Knowl-
edge of the Soils of Asia — 2, Dokuchaiev Institute of
Soil Science, Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.,
Leningrad (1932), 53-152.

with elevations up to 180 feet above the
rivers. Rajputana and the Thar are
covered with soils that show steppe and
desert features including a veneer of
wind-blown loess. Some of these grassland
soils extend well down the Ganges Valley
into regions now naturally covered with
forest.

The black soils, or regur, range from
deep black to brown and gray. The upper
horizon is three to six feet thick, and has a
high content of clay which gives it water-
holding capacity, unusual stickiness, and
also rapid desiccation. The soils have a
fairly large iron and aluminum content,
adequate lime and magnesium, and some
organic matter. In many respects, these
tropical black soils are similar to temperate
chernozems. They differ from lateritic
soils in that the latter develop with heavier
rainfall and a forest cover, while regmr has

Mineral Resources

431

something of a steppe environment. Most
of the regur overlies basaltic lava flows.
It was once assumed that the distinctive
color resulted from the weathering of this
rock, but typical regur is also known to
overlie metamorphic rocks. The nature
of the coloring matter is still imcertain
but may be a mineral constituent rather
than organic carbon. These soils spread
over Bombay, Hyderabad, the Central
Provinces, and the Central India Agency.

Reddish soils may be divided into the
red soils proper, best developed on meta-
morphic rocks in the southern part of the
peninsula, and lateritic soils formed exclu-
sively on laterite. True laterite was first
described in India, and as a geological
formation is a residual product developed
exclusively on flat surfaces, often of
peneplain characteristics. The underlying
bedrock may be of various types, usually
crystalline. As a result of long-continued
tropical leaching, laterite is a rock of
porous and slaglike structure, unequally
permeated with iron oxides and varying
in color from reddish brown to yellow.
White kaolinized spots may occur. Iron
and aluminum oxides are abundant, often
forming 90 per cent of the whole. The
development of such laterite may require
one or more geological epochs, possibly
since the Eocene.

Where modern soils develop on these
laterites, they are termed lateritic. Since
the parent material is already highly
weathered, environmental factors can mod-
ify it but slightly. Two types of lateritic
soils may be distinguished, those formed at
high levels on original laterite, and those
developed at low levels or on slopes over
redeposited laterite. True lateritic soils
are confined to relatively small areas in
Ceylon, northeastern Madras, the Western
Ghats, and Chota Nagpur. High tempera-
ture, abundant rainfall, and tropical forest
cover are conditioning factors.

Red soil types grade from black to
brown. They are usually deficient in
organic matter but contain lime and mi|g-
nesia. Iron and aluminum compounds are
abundant. Such tropical soils cover large
areas in Madras and Mysore, Bihar and
Orissa, and the northern part of the Central
Provinces.

This summary omits the bog and coastal
soils, the extreme alkaline types in the
northwest, and areas of bare rock. Vertical
zonations introduce many soil types on the
slopes of The Himalaya. These mountain
soils are likewise present in the Vindhya
and Satpura ranges, the Nilgiri and
Cardamom hills, and central Ceylon.

Mineral Resources

The mineral wealth of India is strikingly
concentrated in the uplands 200 miles west
of Calcutta. Coal, iron ore, limestone,
manganese, copper, and mica are in fair
proximity, out of which has grown a
large iron and steel industry. Elsewhere
mineral deposits are widely scattered.
Taken as a whole, the Empire is not an
important mineral producer. Extensive
geological studies under British direction
make it unlikely that significant reserves
remain undiscovered. In terms of both
area and population, the known reserves
are exceptionally low. Only a tenth of one
per cent of the people are engaged in
mining.

To medieval Europe, India was synony-
mous with gold and precious stones. Pliny
referred to Indian gold in a.d. 77. It is
now evident that the concentration of
mineral wealth in the hands of a few did
not imply rich mineral resources. Thus
many of the gold placers now worked yield
such a low return that only the cheapest
labor can operate them. Production figures
reflect human poverty rather than mineral
wealth. Ancient India knew the arts of
smelting and made use of iron, copper.

4S2

Indians Physical Foundations

and bronze. Primitive slag heaps are suitable for metallurgical coke. Largely
widespread. undeveloped Tertiary lignite reserves are

f Coal reserves are variously estimated present in Assam and the Punjab. Produc-

India has large amounts of a few raw materials. The symbols suggest relative world rank: C — coal and
O — oil are shown in shadow letters. Minerals, in vertical letters, are as follows: A1 — aluminum. Cr — chromium,
Fe — iron, G — graphite, Mn — manganese. Mi — mica, Ni — nickel. Agricultural products of industrial importance
are Co — cotton, CP — cocoanut products, J — jute, Ru — ^rubber, Wo — wool.

from 54 to 79 billion tons. Most of this is
good bituminous coal of Permo-Carbonif-
erous age in the Damodar Valley in Bengal
and Bihar, and in the valleys of the
Mahanadi and Godavari. These occurrences
are down-faulted remains of fresh-water
basins. One seam in the Bokaro field is
126 feet thick. Only limited amounts are

tion in 1938 reached 28,000,000 long tons,
including a small export to Japan. The
supply is adequate for the local needs of
transportation, textile factories, and smelt- «
ing. Household consumption in all India
totals only two million tons annually.
After the United Kingdom, India is the
largest coal producer in the British Empire.

Mineral Resources

433

Petroleum is entirely lacking in Hindu- Archean rocks are found widely in the
stan and the plateau, but there is a small plateau but are not commercially workable,
output in the Punjab and in Assam. Hematite ore of exceptionally high

The great fuel supply of I iidiA IS cow duti^y iHoldcd into ccilccs And pl&stcrod on the rocks or courtyard walls

to dry. {Courtesy Paul F. Ctessey.)

The small oil production in the Punjab and
Baluchistan represents the eastern margin
of the Mesopotamian and Iran district.

The wide distribution of the native iron
industry suggests a similarly extensive
occurrence of iron ore. Such is the case,
although most deposits are not of modern
economic significance.^ At the time of
the invasion of Alexander the Great, 326
B.C., India was as familiar with iron and
steel as was Greece. One of the largest
iron ore bodies of the world is in the Salem
district southwest of Madras. The ore is a
rich magnetite but is not suited for modern
blast-furnace treatment, and there is no
near-by coal. Similar magnetite ores in

1 Kai^yonasiindaram, V., The Geographical Basis
of the Indian Iron and Steel Industry, Journal
Madras Geographical Association (1934), VIII, 233-
263, with maps. *

quality is present in the northeastern
plateau, chiefly in the Singhbhum district
in Bihar and Orissa. The chief outcrop is a
range 30 miles long in the native state of
Bonai where it is mined cheaply by open-
cut methods. The ore is associated with
banded jasper, and the average iron content
exceeds 60 per cent. Both quality and
tonnage are said to equal those of Lake
Superior, with conservative estimates of a
billion tons of “actual” ore and another
billion of “potential” ore. Indian statistics
give the reserves of the district as 3,600,-
000,000 tons, and for the entire country at
several billion more. This iron belt is by
far the largest and best reserve in all Asia,^
with the possible exception of those in the
Soviet Union.

1 Leith, C. K., Proceedings World Engineering
Congress (1931), XXXIII, I, 14-rl6.

434

Indians Phj^sical Foundations

Iron ore is widely distributed in Mysore,
with hematite schist and limonite mined
in the Bababudan hills. Other high-grade
ores are present in Portuguese Goa, within
four miles of a harbor. Gwalior has several
ore deposits but they are remote from coal.
Lateritic ores with 30 per cent iron are
widespread in the peninsula. The 1037
production of iron ore was 2,870,832 tons.

Three-quarters of the world’s manganese
is mined in the Soviet Union and India.
Production of this ferroalloy fluctuates
with the world output of steel, in which it is
used to remove oxygen and sulphur, or in
some cases as a toughening alloy. India’s
yield in 1937 was 1,051,594 long tons,
somewhat below the average, and about a
third that of the U.S.S.R. Deposits are
widely scattered, with the largest reserves
in the Central Provinces, Bihar and Orissa,
and Madras. Deposits of manganese repre-
sent residual concentrations from the long-
continued weathering of rocks, such as
those in the Indian peninsula. The local
steel industry uses a tenth of the supply,
and the rest goes to England and France.

The import and export of gold bullion
has no relation to production or actual use.
It represents rather speculation and the
movement of wealth. In the nineteenth
century, India was one of the largest buyers
of gold and silver in the world. When Great
Britain went off the gold standard in 1931,
shipments of gold from India exceeded a
billion dollars in eight years. There is a

prosperous mining area at Kolar in Mysore
west of Madras, and numerous native
operations elsewhere which report no
statistics. The Kolar production in 1938
amounted to 320,000 fine ounces, which is
a large decrease from the peak yield of
616,758 ounces in 1905.

Two characteristic Indian minerals are
mica and graphite. Over three quarters
of the world’s sheet mica comes from India.
Excellent supplies in Bihar and Maxlras,
plus cheap labor, make split sheets of
musco\tte available at low prices. Trimmed
sheets are produced up to 80 square inches.
Ceylon has long been noted for natural
graphite. There is a large export to Japan,
but artificial graphite has re4uced the
demand elsewhere.

Copper, chromite, and bauxite are minor
products. Salt is mined in the Salt Range
of the Punjab and is evaporated from sea
water along the coasts of Bombay and
Madras. India is deficient in nonferrous
minerals, with no zinc, little lead, and no
tin.

The unproductive state of the mineral
industry in the Indian Empire is indicated
by the following figures of production, the
rough annual average for the decade of
1930 in millions of United States dollars:
coal 23, gold 11, lead 5, manganese 5, silver
4, tin 3, salt 3, and tungsten, iron ore, and
mica 1 each. Note that these represent the
yield for 1,800,000 square miles and over
350 million people.

Chapter 30

INDIANS PEOPLE AND THEIR ACTIVITIES

People and Politics

In all of Asia there is nowhere else the
cultural heterogeneity found in India. The
political unity imposed by Great Britain
tends to obscure the internal diversity in
race, language, religion, and material
civilization. India is a land of widest
contrasts; congestion and poverty are
countered by wealth and spiritual insight.
The system of caste has compartmentalized
social and economic activities among
Hindus, although Mohammedans and the
other sects tend to be democratic.

Few generalizations apply everywhere.
The Sikhs of the Punjab with their splendid
physique and casteless society have little
in common with the impoverished outcastes
of Madras. Primitive hill tribes in Assam
and educated Mohammedans, city students
and illiterate peasants or ryots, wealthy
Parsees in Bombay; all these make national
coherence difficult.

More than elsewhere in monsoon Asia
outside of Japan, India has accepted the
material culture and veneer of European
civilization. But despite the long exposure
there has been little modification of the
nonmaterial aspects of social organization
and ideas. In the industrial cities there is a
slight modification of minor aspects of
caste, but the basic provisions against
intermarriage and social intercourse in
general remain.

The political structure of India is as
complex as the social. Two-thirds of the
country is included in the 12 provinces of
British India. Since 1935 Burma has been

set apart as a separate country. Ceylon
has always been a crown colony. Several
small Portuguese and French possessions
remain along the coast as souvenirs of
earlier conquests. The rest of India is
divided into some 560 Indian states, some
of them very large, others but a few square
miles in size. Each state is more or less sov-
ereign in internal affairs but has been bound
by a variety of treaties to the old British
East India Company, or to the British
government, or to the King of England
ruling as Emperor of India. They are thus
under varying degrees of British supervision.

Under the constitution of 1935, the
British provinces were Assam, Bengal,
Bihar, United Provinces, Punjab, North-
west Frontier, and Sind, forming a tier
across Hindustan; with Bombay, Central
Provinces, Orissa, and Madras in the
peninsula. Sind has since been separated
from Bombay.

The Indian states, largely in the interior,
include Hyderabad, Mysore, and Travan-
core in the south; Eajputana with its
18 states, Central India Agency with
148 states, Gwalior, and 354 states near
Bombay under the oversight of the Western
States Agency, plus the outlying areas of
Kashmir and Baluchistan. Nepal and
Bhutan in the north are independent
kingdoms entirely free from British protec-
tion, and outside of India. Since many
of these states enjoy different degrees of
autonomy, the constitutional problem of
an All-India Federation is exceedingly
complicated. Some of the native rulers
cling to ancient customs and refuse to

435

436

Indians People and Their Activities

cooperate in any scheme for unification, administration, coinage, army, and customs
Added to this is the more serious problem regulations,

of bringing together the Hindus and the The political pattern of present-day

India’s political structure with its 12 provinces and approximately 560 native states is too complex to be
mapped at thb scale but the major divisions are shown. Nepal and Bhutan are independent kingdoms. The
other shaded areas are Indian states while the unshaded areas within India are provinces.

Mohammedans. In most independent dis- India represents a crystallization of the
tricts there is a British Resident, as repre- chaos that England found, and produced,
sentative of the Viceroy, whose unoflScial when the East India Company carried on
authority usually increases as the area of its operations in the seventeenth and
states diminishes. A few of the larger eighteenth centuries. The Mogul dynasty
states have their own railway systems with reached its peak under Akbar, who ruled
a distinctive gauge, independent postal from 1556 to 1605. Even then the southern

People and Politics

4S7

India has not experienced uniaed control for many centuries. In 1603 independent Mohammedan states (1)
controlled the south whereas the Mogul Empire («) dominated the north. In 173* the same divisions re^im^
but with very different territorial distribution. By 1793 the East India Company (8) had acquired considerable
areas in the east while other areas (4) were under British protection. The map for 1837 represents the sitaation
prior to the Sepoy Rebellion and the transfer of the East India Company's political control to the British
Government.

438

Indians People and Their Activities

peninsula was divided among independent the penetration of European traders, but
Mohammedan and Hindu states. The the collapse of India was due as much to

The entrance to the caves at Ajanta. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

arrival of Vasco da Gama’s three small internal as to external factors. These in-
vessels at Calicut in May, 1498, forecast volved petty jealousies and ambitions of

439

People and Politics

many native rulers which could easily be
fanned into sectional warfare.

The British came originally for trade
rather than conquest. As warehouses were
established along the coast, the East India
Company entered into political relations
with whoever ruled the region. In most
areas these were the local governors, and
in some cases even rebel chieftans. When
civil difficulties arose, the British found it
necessary to employ police to guard their
possessions, and from this they expanded
to militia and to the aid of their political
favorites. Successive events, in part acci-
dental, in part manipulated, gave the
East India Company and its militarily
supported native rulers increased political
control. In places, this expansion was
piecemeal, the frontier advancing as it was
expedient to quell disturbances in bordering
territory; elsewhere whole provinces were
transferred to British administration, either
under their official Mogul governor or un-
der rebellious leaders.

A part of the present pattern was changed
from flux to fixation by Hastings in 1817-
1818. In some areas, widespread con-
solidation of petty kingdoms had just
occurred; elsewhere territorial chaos was
still the rule; hence the diversity in the
present protected areas. After the Sepoy
Rebellion, in 1858, control of British India
was transferred from the East India Com-
pany to the British Crown. Since the
British advanced from the sea, modern
political geography is quite unlike that
of ancient times where invaders came
from the northwest. Present boundaries
largely disregard those of Akbar.

In all the history and prehistory of
India, there had never been an invasion
from the sea till the arrival of the Dutch,
Portuguese, French, and English. Although
there are no records of overseas political
conquests by Indians themselves, there
was a considerable migration to the East

Indies. Thus Hinduism spread to Java a
thousand years ago. India’s chief gateways
were the northwest passes toward Iran
and central Asia. Even Chinese pilgrims
came this way. Prior to the arrival of
Europeans, India had no seaports of im-
portance, and the chief ocean-borne trade
was that carried on by the Arabs between
Bombay and Zanzibar. Today, conditions
are reversed and the seaports form the
front doors. The passes have become the
postern gate, little used but still a con-
tinual threat for penetration. Beyond them
lay first czarist territorial expansion and
now Soviet communism.

Any understanding of racial complexity
must go back thousands of years and de-
pends on relationships still little under-
stood. The two main strains today are the
Dravidians in the south and the Aryans in^
the north. Before either arrived, there were
dark-skinned peoples akin to early negroid
stocks of Africa and Melanesia, some of
whom still live as aborigines in the central
part of the peninsula. All known migrations^
have come as waves from the northwest,
each pushing aside or partly mingling with
its predecessor. Within historic times these
have included Greeks, Scythians, Huns,
Afghans, known as Moguls when they came
into India, and Persians.

The most recent conquest was that of
the Mohammedans who spread eastward
down the Ganges Valley to Bengal in the
twelfth century, but who have never pene-
trated the peninsula in large numbers.

The major cultural clash in present-day
India is between the Hindus, who represent
two-thirds of the population, and the
Mohammedans, who comprise one-fifth.
The former give to India such cultural and
religious unity as it has, but there is no
common language, race, or history for the
more than two hundred million who make
up the caste-stratified society of Hinduism.
Hindus comprise at least three-quarters of

440

India’s People and Their Activities ■

the population almost everywhere in Hin* in Bengal, Telegu and Tamil in Madras,
dustan and the plateau except in Assam and Punjabi in the Indus lowland. This

An open-air village shop operated by Mohammedans. {Courtesy Paul F. Cressey.)

where they are but half, and in the Punjab language distribution has little relation to
and Bengal where Mohammedans number provincial boundaries or to religion,
three-fourths. It is quite impossible to There are more than 2,000 castes in
redraw boundaries so that different racial Hindu society, with the Brahmans at
groups might be in separate political areas, the top and the “untouchables** or de-
Proposals to create a Moslem state under pressed classes, which are outside the caste
the name of Pakistan cannot be based on system, at the base. These latter number
any valid boundary. over 50 million people. These differences

The nearly 400 million people of India are in part ethnographic, for the higher
have 9 great religions, and over 200 Ian- castes tend to have fairer skin, higher
guages of which 20 are spoken by at least a foreheads, and rounder faces. Aryans, who
million people each. Even the name India represent the latest invasions, in general
was not applied to all of the country until are fairer and have thin noses while Dravid-
modern times. There has never been a com- ians are dark skinned and broad nosed,
mon tongue throughout the realm until the The class stratification of Hindu society
introduction of English, which is spoken is a serious barrier to modernization,
by less than three million. Hindustani is The restrictions of language and religion
widely used in the Ganges Plain, Bengali divide people into isolated cultural com-

441

Peo'ple and Politics

munities which make government and
business difficult. In social, linguistic, and
political structure, the peninsula of India
is more complex than anything the penin-
sula of Europe has ever known. Without
external guidance, national coherence is
very difficult.

Toward the end of the sixteenth century,
the total population of India was approxi-
mately 100 millions; by the first census of
1872 the number rose to 206 millions. The
population of India, including both British
India and the Indian States, at the 1941
census was 388,800,000, an increase of
13 per cent in a decade. The Northwestern
Frontier and Bombay increased by 25 and
20 per cent, respectively, while Baluchistan
declined by 12 per cent. Half these people
live in Hindustan, which occupies but one-
fifth the area. In the lower Ganges Valley,
population densities exceed 1,000 per
square mile, while parts of the desert and
delta jungles are essentially empty. Only
a tenth of the total live in cities of 5,000 or
over, for India is the most rural of all the
large countries of the world. Literacy in
1941 was 12 per cent, with the largest
numbers in Bengal and Madras. With a
birth rate of 34 and a death rate of 24, the
average expectation of life is but 27 years,
as compared with 58 in Great Britain.

The results of the 194h census are shown
in the accompanying table.

Provinces

Assam

10,205,000

Bengal

60,314,000

Bihar

36,340,000

Bombay

20,858,000

Central Provinces

16,822,000

Madras

49,342,000

Northwest Frontier

3,038,000

Orissa

8,729,000

Punjab

28,419,000

United Provinces

55,021,000

Sind

4,537,000

295,827,000

States and Agencies

Assam 725,000

Baluchistan 856,000

Baroda 2,855,000

Bengal 2,142,000

Central India 7,502,000

Chattisgarh 4,054,000

Cochin 1,428,000

Deccan 2,786,000

Gujarat 1,457,000

Gwalior 8,902,000

Hyderabad 16,184,000

Kashmir 4,021,000

Mysore 7,829,000

Northwest Frontier 2,878,000

Orissa 8,025,000

Punjab 6,558,000

Rajputana 18,670,000

Travancore 6,070,000

92,978,000

Totals

India (1941) 888,800,000

Portuguese India (1931) 579,970

French India (1986) 299,000

Indian agricultural economy is based on
rice, except in the northwest or specialized
areas such as those devoted to cotton or
jute. Since flooded fields require level land,
hills are often sparsely populated. One of
the least occupied and most backward parts
of the country is the Chota Nagpur Plateau
near the bend of the Ganges, northwest of
Calcutta.

Two factors guide population distribu-
tions in India: level alluvium and adequate
water. Densities are high in the Ganges
lowland and along both coasts. The Indus
lowland has good soil but is too dry for
agriculture, except where irrigated. The
blankest areas on the population map are
the arid lands of Rajputana and Baluchis-
tan in the northwest, and the mountains
of Kashmir. India’s problem, like China’s,
is agricultural overpopulation. Famines
once took a tremendous toll, but railways
and efficient grain distribution under
government supervision have eliminated
starvation in the twentieth century. Dis-

India's People and Their Activities

ease is still serious, and the influenza the marginal livelihood of the overcrowded
epidemic of is estimated to hav^ land.

caused the loss of over 12,000,000 lives. India is a land of villages, over two-thirds

A village street of the better type, near Cape Comorin in Travancore. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Agriculture

The world of the average Indian farmer
ends at his horizon. His interest is centered
in the village where he lives except for an
occasional journey of a few miles to a
bazaar or fair. Within this circle, life follows
a routine round of simple stereotyped
activities. With an eye on the sky for the
monsoon and with his hands in the earth
for food, man lives close to nature.

The agricultural landscape differs with
the season and from north to south, but
everywhere below The Himalaya it has a
characteristic Indian touch. The foliage is
tropical and luxuriant, cultivated fields
are tiny and of irregular shape as the result
of generations of repeated subdivision, and
livestock is abundant. The poverty of the
people and houses of mud and straw reflect

of a million in number. Most of them are
located away from paved roads or railways
and are but little affected by the tides of
nationalism that sweep the cities. Each
settlement is nearly self-sufficient with its
own artisans, carpenters, and blacksmiths
who furnish all needed tools. A shop or
two supply the few material wants, and
a temple or mosque cares for the religious
needs. Traditional practices still suffice,
and the high percentage of illiteracy makes
changes difficult. Outside markets for farm
produce are limited, so that increased labor
brings few rewards. Recurrent years of
poor crops pile up indebtedness to the local
moneylender.

Despite extensive government efforts
for agricultural improvement, the sheer
magnitude of the reform problem means
that for most farmers cultivation is still

Agriculture

443

rudimentary. Plows are simple iron-tipped but the area is only one-tenth and one-fifth
sticks which stir but do not overturn the of the respective crop totals. Cooperative
soil. In most areas they are light enough societies are locally an aid.

A seed drill. Simple farm tools made from local materials are characteristic. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

to be carried to the fields on the farmer’s The Indian income needs desperately to
back, but in the black soils of the Deccan be raised, but there is little hope of this
the plows are heavier and require up to six through mining, lumbering, fishing, animal
yoke of oxen. Crops are reaped with a husbandry, or industry. Agriculture re-
sickle, threshed by the feet of cattle, and mains the dominant occupation, yet the
winnowed in the wind. The mattock is cultivated area can scarcely be enlarged
used in place of a spade. further without prohibitive expense. The

Some progress has been made in consoli- crop area rose 14 per cent during the first
dating scattered holdings, but many farm- quarter of the century, but population in-
ers with no more than three or four creased nearly as much. Only one-seventh
acres in all till one or two dozen farm of the land is double-cropped, but only
plots. modest increases are feasible here. Probably

Each province has its agricultural de- the most hopeful prospect is through better
partment, and considerable acreages are seed selection and increased returns per
now sown with improved seeds, especially acre. Present acre yields are much below
in the case of irrigated wheat and cotton, world averages.

444

India's People and Their Activities

Fertilization would materially increase
the harvest, but farmers are too poor to
purchase commercial preparations. Un-
^ fortunately for the future, India does not
appear to have phosphates or other raw
materials for the manufacture of mineral
fertilizers. The large number of farm ani-
mals suggests the availability of manure,
but in the absence of other fuel for domestic
needs, cattle and buffalo dung is made into
cakes and burned. Compost piles are used
somewhat, and there is a limited plowing
under of legumes for green fertilizer. Rota-
tion and fallowing are common practices,
and the interplanting of legumes and grains
also helps to maintain fertility.

Without irrigation India would be a
different country. Seasonal rainfall, often
irregular, leaves much of the land a semi-
desert for half the year. In the northwest
there is never enough precipitation. Irriga-
tion is an old practice, greatly expanded
under the British. Water is supplied by
wells, reservoirs, and canals, and the irri-
gated area amounts to over 20 per cent of
the total under cultivation. The total area
served by canals is 35,000,000 acres.

About 15,000,000 acres are irrigated by
wells, chiefly in the United Provinces,
Punjab, Madras, and Bombay. Many de-
vices are used to lift the water, but the
most common is a leather bag at the end
of a rope which runs over a pulley above
the well and is pulled by a pair of oxen. The
oxen usually walk down an incline when
the well is deep. Elsewhere the Persian
water wheel is used with earthen jars
attached to the rim of the wheel; here again
oxen are used. Still more simply, water is
lifted by manual labor by means of a long
pivoted lever. Since well water is difficult
to secure, it is used sparingly and only on
high-value crops.

The construction of reservoirs, usually
known as tanks, goes back to very ancient
times. Some are shallow ponds dug to catch

rain water, others are made by a dam across
a stream; some tanks hold several billion
cubic feet of water, others cover less than
an acre. South India is the most character-
istic region for reservoirs. In Madras there
are tanks known to be 1,100 years old.
Except in the Indus lowland, these reser-
voirs are a conspicuous feature of the land-
scape. About 10,000,000 acres are irrigated
in this manner.

Most villages in the Deccan have their
tank, perhaps the gift of some former rich
resident. To it come the cattle for water,
in it are washed the clothes and vegetables,
into it is dumped the refuse, from it are
obtained fish, and the water is often the
only source for domestic use. Toward the
end of the dry season when the pond shrinks
to a fraction of its normal size, the odors
become excessive. Small wonder that
cholera, malaria, and other diseases are
widespread.

India has the longest mileage of modem
irrigation canals in the world, some 75,000
miles in all. Most of these are in the north-
west where engineering skill has turned
the wastelands of the Punjab and Sind into
a great oasis which produces wheat and
cotton in what was formerly an empty
desert. Canal irrigation in the peninsular
plateau must depend on stored seasonal
rain, but the rivers of Hindustan are fed by
melting snows and do not run dry. The
Punjab has long been famed for the diver-
sion weirs across its streams near the moun-
tains, which take irrigation water from the
rivers so that the interstream areas, or
doabs, are made available for wheat
growing.

Under British direction, the irrigated
area has been greatly enlarged, and more
than 10,000,000 additional settlers have
been provided for. The most important
factor in population redistribution has been
this reclamation of wasteland. Egypt has
Ipng been famed for its Assouan Dam, but

Agriculture

it was the lessons learned on the Indus that
made modem Egyptian irrigation possible.
The mile-long Sukkar Barrage on the lower
Indus irrigates an area in the Sind larger
than the whole of cultivated Egypt. This
project is equaled by works in the Sutlej
Valley in the Punjab. Both irrigation
schemes were completed in 1932, and each
provides water for over 5,000,000 acres.

Along the east coast it has been cus-
tomary to construct diversion canals at
the head of the deltas in order to bring
water to the areas between the streams.
Such canals usually operate only when the
river is in flood stage. A large irrigation
project on the Cauvery River at Mettur
stores water for 1,300,000 acres and gener-
ates considerable electric power. On the
west coast there is even a canal under the
Western Ghats to bring irrigation water
from the wet coastal slopes to the drier
interior near Tinnevelly.

India is credited with nearly half the
world’s cattle. Humped cows or oxen and
water buffalo are found everywhere, with
camels in the dry northwest and elephants
in the wetter east. Hindus hold the cow
in religious esteem and, since the taking of
life is forbidden, the animals are never
killed no matter how feeble or diseased.
Working bullocks must be fed, but cows
are usually left to pick up what they can
find. Millions of useless cattle compete
for food urgently needed for work animals.

India provides a contrast to China in its
source of farm power. In the former, oxen
or buffaloes do the work; in the latter there
is greater dependence upon human labor.
Not all the draft animals in India are effi-
cient, but their abundance is significant.

The dairy industry is but little developed,
and water buffalo milk is preferred to cow’s
milk as it is richer in fat. A few areas spe-
cialize in cattle breeding, with fine strains in
Gujarat and Nellore. Good pasture is
limited. Hindus and many Mohammedans

445

eat no meat, but hides constitute a valuable
export.

All statistics in India, agriculture in-
cluded, are complicated by the lack of
political uniformity. Reliable census data
are available from most British provinces,
but from only a third of the Indian states.
Since the 560 states include two-fifths of
the total area and represent somewhat
different geographical conditions, the total
picture is obscure. The generalizations here
given are selected with care, but many of
them lack full statistical accuracy.

In 1931, the reported crop area^ amounted
to 333,500,000 acres, equal to 40 per cent of
the total region covered by census data.
This is slightly over an acre per capita.
Land normally cultivated but fallow at the
time of the census would raise the per
capita farm acreage. Rice covers about 25
per cent of the crop area; the grain sor-
ghums jo war, bajra, and ragi account for 30
per cent; wheat covers 10 per cent; while
oil seeds and cotton each represent 7 per
cent; millet is also important. Within
British India alone, 34 per cent is culti-
vated, 7 per cent fallow, 13 per cent forest,
and 45 per cent waste or not available for
cultivation (1927). Much of the forest is in
Assam, and the wasteland is in the Thar
Desert.

Rice is the staple crop in all the wetter
areas, but it is too expensive for the poorer
classes who live on grain sorghums and
millet. Rice culture follows the rainfall
lines. Where the rainfall exceeds 80 inches,
rice is dominant; with 40 to 80 inches it is
still important; under 40 inches it is grown
only with irrigation. The principal areas
are the lower Ganges and the east coast
deltas. The total area is about 80 million
acres. Two crops a year are grown near
Madras, but elsewhere one is the rule
succeeded by a fallow period or a legume.

^ Agricultural Statistics of India, Calcutta (annual),
I British India, II Native States.

446

Indians People and Their Activities

Imports of about 2 million tons a year are seedbeds. Unhusked rice is known as paddy,
essential, chiefly from Rangoon. and the flooded fields where it is grown are

Some rice is sown broadcast, but trans- commonly called paddy fields.

Rice, wheat, and the grain sorghums, chiefly jo war, are the three major food crops of India. Each has
its distinct area. Jute in the east and cotton in the west are the principal commercial fibers. (After Van Valken-
hurg in Economic Geography.)

planting is customary. An acre of seedlings . Three varieties of grain sorghums are
will suffice for six to ten times the field widespread. Jo war is comparable to Chinese
area, and the young rice is ready to be kaoliang and resembles American broom
transplanted after four to five weeks in com. It grows 8 to 12 feet tall with an

Agriculture 447

appearance that resembles corn, except pends upon stored ground moisture and the
that it has a cluster of grain at the top. scanty precipitation from winter cyclonic
Jowar covers 40,000,000 acres, chiefly in storms. New irrigation projects in the Sind

Harvesting grain sorghums in Palitana (Kathiawar). {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Malwa and the western Deccan, where the and Punjab have materially increased
rainfall is 20 to 40 inches. It is usually a wheat production. The yield is only ten to
summer crop but may be grown in the eleven bushels per acre, but India ranks
winter in the south. Jowar is grown for fourth in world acreage,
both food and fodder. Bajra is more toler- Other food crops are barley, millet, corn,
ant and hence planted on poorer soils, legumes, sugar cane, and many vegetables,
and is not so tall. It covers 20,000,000 Barley competes with wheat but is crowded
acres with much the same regional distribu- onto the poorer soils in the drier areas, such
tion as jowar, although in any particular t^he United Provinces. In the absence of
area it takes the poorer sites. Both of these ^ meat diet, legumes are significant. Gram
sorghums are routed with cotton. Bagi chick-pea accounts for 15,000,000 acres.

requires a rice climate but will grow on ti. * i a. j -j

^ M 1 1 . , , It IS always a winter crop and provides a

poorer soils; its locale is the southern , ,, » ip,!.. x i* »

TV valuable rotation for soil fertility. India s

Deccan.

Wheat is the third crop of India, with

western Hindustan and the Malwa Plateau “ P®*' ** »

as the principal areas. Karachi has an quarter that of Java so that imports are
export surplus in some years. The crop necessary. Cane is raised in Hindustan, with
area is about 30,000,000 acres. Nearly tbe best yields in the United Provinces,
half of this is irrigated, for wheat is planted Great improvements are possible in varieties
after the summer rains and otherwise de- of cane and in cultivation practices.

448

Indians People and Their Activities

Raw cotton, peanut oil and other oil provided work for the slack season and
seeds, jute, and tea are important export offered a modicum of income. Factory-
crops. made cloth is better, but the peasant has

Cotton is grown very widely in India, little cash with which to buy it.

Reeling cotton yam in a Kathiawar farmyard. The man in the background is preparing a loom. {Courtesy

Indian State Railways.)

but the black-soil zone with under 50 inches Oil seeds in India have commonly meant
of rainfall in the Deccan behind Bombay sesame, linseed from flax grown for its oil
leads in the total of 25,000,000 acres. The rather than its fiber, rape, mustard, and
Indian acreage is second to the United castor bean. Peanuts were not reported
States, but the production is only a quarter prior to 1911, but by 1931 were grown on
and acre yields are the lowest in the world, over 5,000,000 acres in British India alone.
The fiber is coarse and too short for the They now form the chief vegetable oil
best cloth, but meets the needs of Japanese export and make the country the leading
mills which purchased nearly half the world source. Many parts of the plateau
export prior to the Second World War. share in the production, chiefly the drier
Most of the balance is used by Indian areas. Indian linseed once dominated the
mills, but some cotton is still spun in the world market but is now surpassed by the
homes. One of the complaints of Indian Argentine product. Cocoanut oil is an im-
nationalists is that modem industry has portant export from the west coast and
displaced the old household looms which Ceylon.

449

Agriculture

Jute is the coarse fiber used for making
burlap and gunny sacks, and India has
practically a monopoly on the supply.
Its 3,500,000 acres contribute a sixth of
India’s export trade. One area dominates
production, the wet delta lands of Bengal
where fall floods inundate wide areas and
make it necessary to cut the crop under
three or four feet of water. After the plant
is gathered, it is soaked or retted until the
fiber is loosened.

Tea was introduced from China about
1850, although it is now known that
varieties are indigenous in Assam. The hills
of central Ceylon form the largest single
area, followed by the Brahmaputra Valley
and the district south of the Khasi Hills in
Assam. Tea is also grown near Darjeeling
and elsewhere in the Himalaya foothills,
and in the Cardamom and Nilgiri hills at
the extreme end of the peninsula.

Some of the earliest exports of India were
her spices, such as curry, chilies, pepper,
ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Coffee and
quinine are raised in the southernmost
hills, and tobacco grows in the foothills of
The Himalaya. Indian indigo was known
to the Greeks and Romans but the syn-
thetic dye has nearly eliminated the native
product.

India has a wide variety of tropical
fruits. The cultivated mango has a delicious
flavor, when one learns to like it, and in the
summer is the chief fruit for the poorer
classes. Other fruits are pumeloes, limes
and other citrus fruits, custard apples,
bananas, guava, and papaya. In the north-
west apples, peaches, and pears are raised.

Crop seasons are divided between
the summer-planted and autumn-harvested
kharif crops, and the winter-grown rabi
crops. The distinction is not entirely sea-
sonal, since kharif crops may be grown in
the far south during the winter, thanks to
its rain. The planting of kharif crops is
delayed until after the first monsoon rains;

if these arrive unusually late, difficulty fol-
lows. The chief rabi crops are wheat, barley,
oats, and legumes; typical kharif crops are
early rice, grain sorghums, most cotton, and
jute.

The soil directly supports two-thirds of
the people, and indirectly all but a small
fraction. Cultivated land amounts to only
£.51 acres per family in the United Prov-
inces and 1£.15 acres in Bombay. For all
of census India the per capita average is
slightly over an acre. Hindustan is thus
more congested than the plateau, but these
figures represent available food possibilities
rather than relative prosperity. It is
probable that each region is filled to its
capacity. As population increases, the pres-
sure for food becomes more acute. Since
harvests depend on rain and since agricul-
ture supplies most of the national income,
it may well be said that the government’s
budget is a gamble against the monsoon.

Many problems account for the serious
status of agriculture and make the solution
uncertain. Economic factors of a poor land
system and staggering debt combine with
very low market prices. Religious prohibi-
tions on the elimination of unproductive
livestock as well as the absence of a meat
diet are serious barriers. Lack of fertilizer
is especially unfortunate in a land of poor
tropical soils, naturally low in organic
matter due to rapid oxidation in a tropical
climate.

British rule has reduced famine, brought
internal stability and external markets,
opened vast tracts by irrigation, and pro-
vided scientific agricultural advice. Instead
of appreciating these supposed contribu-
tions, Indian nationalists point to the
elimination of former rural incomes from
cotton weaving and salt production, the
financial drain of supporting a handsomely
paid foreign supervisory staff, and the
impoverishment of the country by excess

Winnowing, grain. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Behind all these problems lies the League of Nations listed India as the
tremendous total of 388,800,000 people, twelfth industrial nation of the world.

With such numbers and with such social Long before the arrival of Europeans,
and political problems, the best agricultural certain arts and crafts attained a con-
plans are difficult to put in operation. siderable measure of development. Indig-

enous architecture developed under the
Industry Hindus, while the Mohammedans intro-

Five primary activities contribute to duced Arabian styles in the twelfth century,
the wealth of a nation: agriculture, animal Few countries have matched Indian textile
husbandry, forestry, mining, and fishing, skills in cotton, wool, and silk. Cotton
Only the first is of major significance in cloth was woven from long-staple varieties
India. Secondary production involves the of cotton no longer cultivated and was
manufacture of these primary materials, prized by the Greeks. Artistic temple and
but modem Indian industry is restricted household vessels were made of copper and
to the products of agriculture and the few brass. Superior steel was exported several
mines. The arrival of a significant indus- centuries before Christ, some of it to be
trial era for India has long been forecast, worked into “Damascus*^ swords. When
but its appearance seems to be gradual the British arrived, they eagerly sought
and its future problematical. Despite the the muslin from Dacca, the carpets and

Industry

shawls from Kashmir, the marble inlay
from Agra, dyes such as indigo, and a
variety of spices.

Village handicrafts, many of them still
more important than factory production,
provided simple household pottery, iron
plows, sickles and hoes for agriculture,
coarse cotton cloth, vegetable oils, and
leather. There are wide contrasts between
the luxury items produced for coiirt use
and export, and the simple peasant needs.
The lack of an intermediate market and
the cost of transport restricted traditional
industry to the village and its requirements.

The march of world events has pro-
foundly altered all this. Whether deliberate
or not, the eflPect of British rule has been
to destroy many Indian crafts and to
make the country an exporter of raw
materials and an importer of manufactured
goods. The shipping, fabricating, and
reselling of these products have brought
large profit to British firms. British in-
vestments at the beginning of the Second
World War amounted to 250 million
pounds of government loans plus nearly
the same amount in private securities.

In 1936 there were only 10,000 modern
factories in all India, with a daily average
of 1,652,147 workers. These are strikingly
localized,^ largely in or near Calcutta,
which is far in the lead, Bombay, Ahmeda-
bad, Cawnpore, Jamshedpur, Madras, and
Sholapur. No other city had more than
20,000 factory workers in 1936. The highly
uneven distribution of modern industry
and its concentration on cotton and jute
are noteworthy features of India today.
Conspicuous developments occurred during
both the First and Second World Wars.

Industrial developments will be con-
sidered under the headings of heavy

^ Lokanathan, P. S., Localization of Industry in
India, Journal Madras Geographical Association
(1932), VII, 16-35, with map.

451

industries, chemicals, textiles, and mis-
cellaneous manufactures.

Coal production is localized in the Chota

A Hindu carpenter using a simple drill. The use of
the feet in this type of work is common. {Courtesy
Paul F. Cressey.)

Nagpur Plateau of Bengal and Bihar.
The principal mines are at Raniganj,
Jherria, Karanpura, and Bokaro, and the
output is barely suflBcient for Indian
needs so that the west coast imports
South African coal. Despite cheap labor
and shallow workings, the coal industry
is not prosperous. Many of the miners
are part-time farmers who work inter-
mittently, staying away from the mines
when they have earned enough for the
next few days.

Hydroelectricity is a new development.
The largest installation is in the Western
Ghats near Bombay where pipes descend
1,725 feet and develop a pressure of 750
pounds per square inch against the tur-
bines. Railways near Bombay are mostly
electrified. Electric power is also developed
on the Jhelum in Kashmir, the Cauvery in

452

India's People and Their Activities

Madras, and elsewhere. All these sources Jamshedpur, 155 miles west of Calcutta.^
may be enlarged to a limited extent, but Production started in 1911 and the plant
their distribution is highly regional. On represents an investment of $100,000,000.

The Tatanagar Iron and Steel Works at Jamshedpur represent the climax of industrialization in India.
Blast furnaces are shown to the right while the smokestacks on the left are above the open-hearth furnaces.
{Black Star.)

account of seasonal rainfall, expensive
reservoirs are needed. Most of the country
has no prospective source of industrial
power.

Pig iron is produced at Bumpur near
Asansol, at Kulti in Bengal, and at Bad-
ravati in Mysore; and both pig and steel
at the new center of Jamshedpur.' The
location of raw materials is the dominating
factor, and few other Indian centers seem
feasible.

The greatest steel plant is that of the
Tata Iron and Steel Company, Ltd., at

^ Kaltonasundabam, V., The Geographic Basis
of the Indian Iron and Steel Industry, Journal
Madras Oeographical Association^ (1934), VIII,
283-268, with map?.

All of this is Indian capital, and the
industry is the pride of the Nationalists.
Jamshedpur holds thirtieth place among
world steel centers. Rich 60 per cent
hematite ore comes 45 miles from Guru-
maishini in the Singhbhum district; coal
is brought 115 miles from Jherria; and
dolomite flux is transported 40 miles.
Manganese is near by. Assembly costs
are less than half those in the United
States or England, and the Tata plant is
the cheapest producer of pig iron in the
world. Steel costs are high since there is
little scrap for melting.

^Anstet, Vera, “The Economic Development of
India, “ London: Longmans, Green (1931), 242-508.

Industry

453

To produce one ton of pig iron at Jam-
shedpur requires tons ore, 1% tons
coking coal, plus about ton of dolomite
flux. The five blast furnaces produced
nearly two million tons of pig iron in 1940,
and the steel output from seven open-
hearth furnaces was about one million
tons. This is three-fourths of India’s
production of pig, and nearly all its steel.
This is said to be the largest iron and steel
works in the British Empire.

Although the capacity of the Tata
works has been enlarged several times and
there is a protective tariff, production
still fails to meet the needs or to keep out
steel imports. There is normally an annual
importation of 300,000 to 400,000 tons
of steel from England, and an export of
iron ore and pig iron to Japan. Some
Jamshedpur steel is profitably shipped to
California.

The Kulti plant of the Bengal Iron
Company has five furnaces with a capacity
of 300,000 tons; no steel is produced.
There are also two blast furnaces at
Burnpure and one in Mysore.

Aluminum was not produced until 1939
when a plant was opened in Bengal with
a capacity of 3,000 tons annually. Copper
ores from the Singhbhum district are
smelted at Mandhandar in Bihar. There
is little refining of other metals. Suitable
raw materials for cement are widespread,
but transportation costs for coal are high
since none of the plants is near the
mines. Bombay and Calcutta are the chief
markets, yet there are no cement works
within 300 miles of either city. The total
production could meet nearly all needs,
but rail costs to the seaboard counter-
balance ocean freight so that imported
cement is used along the coast. Railway
industries are one of the largest of all
employers.

Chemicals are an essential part of modern
industry and are so interdependent that

the absence of one link may handicap
many others. Most of the raw materials
are available in India, but they are seldom
near to both power and markets. Adequate
supplies of sulphuric acid are produced
from imported materials, but in the case
of most other chemicals the output 19
on an experimental basis. The necessary
skilled workers are few in number.

Textiles are India’s characteristic in-
dustries, chiefly cotton mills around Bom-
bay and jute mills near Calcutta. Out of
295 cotton mills, 203 are in Bombay
province, 22 in the United Provinces, 21
in Madras, and 15 in the Central Provinces.
A part of Bombay’s leadership is due to
the initiative of Parsi industrialists, but
the localization also reflects the concentra-
tion of cotton growing on the black regur
soils of the Deccan. Short-staple varieties
predominate here, with improved long-
staple cotton on the irrigated lands of the
Indus. The growth of cotton was stimulated
by the American Civil War, and the first
successful mill started operations in 1853.
Production is increasing but has met stiff
competition from Japan.

Jute production goes back a century. It
is the cheapest of all fibers, and India
dominates the world market. The material
is used for gunny sacks, burlap, coarse
carpets, and cordage. The industry is highly
centralized, with 90 out of 95 factories
along the banks of the Hooghly River near
Calcutta. The industry employs nearly as
many workers as all the cotton mills.

A similar concentration characterizes
the other industries. Leather preparation
is centered in Madras province on account
of suitable bark for tanning purposes.
Excellent cowhide as well as goat- and
sheepskin is exported to Europe and the
United States. Hides and skins rank sixth
in the export trade. Sugar factories must
lie close to the cane, so there are 13 in the
United Provinces and 11 in Bihar and

454

Indians People and Their Activities

Orissa, out of a total of 29 mills. The chief
paper mills are close to the Calcutta market
and to coal, but their raw material is sabi
grass which comes 900 miles down the
Ganges. At another mill bamboo pulp is
used. This appears the most desirable
material for the future, provided that the
power may be secured cheaply. Lac, a
resin secreted by an insect, is used in
shellac and sealing wax, in lithographic ink,
and as a stiflFener in hats. Bengal and the
United Provinces lead in its production.
India has no good kaolin for a high-grade
pottery industry. There are 32 flour mills,
5 woolen mills, numerous match factories,
and local plants for crushing oil seeds and
the manufacture of brick or tile.

Indian industry enjoys a natural advan-
tage with respect to competing imports.
On the other hand, the chief markets are
the coastal seaports, and in the case of
interior industries the rail freight to sea-
board may equalize the sea-borne charges.
India has no shortage of essentials for
industry. Coal, iron, and many other
minerals are adequate for present needs,
although probably not for a vast expansion
comparable to that of Europe. The great
problem is geographic, for the essential
raw materials are concentrated in a few
localities. Vast consuming areas are either
without raw materials, as Hindustan, or
do not have the power to develop what they
possess. Bombay has hydroelectric power,
a market, and a port, but no minerals.
Calcutta has both port and market, and
within 200 miles has the best association
of coal and iron ore. This would seem to be
the most promising area for heavy indus-
try. Technical and financial aid are still
other problems.

The bulk of India’s present industry is
made up of consumers’ goods rather than
machines or tools or producers’ goods. It
may be a long while before India becomes a
great primary manufacturing region.

Communications

Since the Europeans approached India
from the sea, coastwise shipping was de-
veloped before internal communications.
Unfortunately the country has few harbors.
Coral reefs, delta shoals, and monsoon
winds make it necessary at many ports for
vessels to discharge cargo into lighters
several miles offshore. Several of the few
good harbors along the coast of the penin-
sula are cut off from their hinterland by
the Ghats.

Internal communications have been
equally unsatisfactory. Rivers are alter-
nately in flood or reduced to a mere trickle
and are unfit for dependable transporta-
tion. The plains pf Hindustan are entirely
without road-making materials, and local
travel is diflBcult during the muddy season.
Neighboring villages are even now cut off
from each other during the rains, so that
trade is limited.

Railway construction began in 1853.
Unfortunately, several rail gauges have
been used so that passengers must some-
times change cars, and freight must break
bulk en route. Half the mileage is the
Indian broad gauge, 5 feet 6 inches as com-
pared with the United States standard of
4 feet 83^ inches. There are many different
broad-gauge rail systems, but most are
interconnected. Two unconnected regions
of meter gauge occur in the north and in
the south. Narrow-gauge feeder or hill lines
use either 2 feet 6 inch or 2 feet track. In
1937 the broad-gauge systems totaled
21,197 miles, the meter-gauge 17,773 miles,
and the narrow-gauge 4,158 miles, a total of
43,128 miles. India thus ranks third in
mileage, preceded by the United States
with 238,539 miles (1937) and the Soviet
Union with 52,425 miles (1936).

Passenger revenues amount to 30 per
cent of the whole. Railway coal and ma-
terials account for nearly half the freight.

A canal in Travancore where waterways play an important role. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

dominant revenue freight. Freight charges
per mile are very low.

When railways were first laid out they
naturally radiated from Calcutta and Bom-
bay, and to a lesser extent from the other
ports of Madras and Karachi.

From Bombay, the chief western gate-
way, it is 861 miles north to Delhi. Another
route northeast via Jubbulpore and Allaha-
bad is the main line to Calcutta, 1,223
miles or 40 hours away. A third route runs
through the cotton area to Nagpur, and
another provides connections with Madras,
794 miles to the southeast.

Four main railway lines radiate from
Calcutta; north and east into Assam; north-
west to the coal fields and up the Ganges
Valley 950 miles to Delhi; west to the im-
portant rail center of Nagpur in the central
Deccan; and southwest along the coast to

Madras is the focus of lines north to
Vizagapatam, south to the port of Ceylon,
and for two lines into the southern Deccan.

Nagpur lies at the intersection of the
commercial hinterlands of Madras, Cal-
cutta, and Bombay. The trade boundary
between the two latter ports continues
north to Delhi. Thus each seaport has ap-
proximately the same tributary area.

There is still no line connecting Burma
with India, although surveys have been
made both along the coast as well as via the
Hukong Valley in the north. Ceylon is but
22 miles by boat from India, and there are
intervening islands and sand bars known as
Adam’s Bridge which might make railway
construction feasible. Proposals to link
up the Indian system with Europe involve
the politically undesirable route through
Afghanistan to Soviet Middle Asia, or a

456

Indians People and Their Activities

Jine by way of the deserts of Iran to
Bagdad.

The present rail net provides adequate
coverage for most of the country. The
closest spacing follows the concentration
of population in the Ganges Valley. The
sparsely inhabited areas of Baluchistan,
the Thar Desert and western Rajputana,
the eastern Deccan, and Oriya in the north-
-east of the plateau are correspondingly low
in rail mileage. The Western Ghats fringe
the sea so closely that no coastal railway
extends south from Bombay. The Himalaya
impose an abrupt barrier, although moun-
tain lines reach the summer resorts or hill
stations of Simla north of Delhi and Dar-
jeeling north of Calcutta.

India has four major automobile high-
ways, following a framework that dates
back into the remote past. The most
famous is the Grand Trunk road, from the
Khyber pass via Delhi to Calcutta. The
others connect Calcutta with Madras,
Madras with Bombay, and Bombay with
Delhi. It has proved very difiScult to pro-
vide a satisfactory system of improved
automobile roads; in many areas they cost

almost as much as railways. Only SOO miles
of the Grand Trunk highway are paved
with asphalt; elsewhere water-bound mac-
adam is the rule. Numerous rivers are
unbridged, and sections of many important
roads are liable to be inundated.

The total length of all highways in 1938
was 319,131 miles, of which 66,000 miles
were water-bound macadam and 1S5£,000
miles good-weather roads. The best sub-
sidiary roads are in south India. In 1941,
there were 1^,400 motor vehicles of
which 77,000 were passenger cars.

The lack of good roads has always been
one of India’s handicaps, whether in^trade,
social coherence, or political unity. Nor has
there been well-developed water transporta-
tion by river, canal, or coastwise vessels
to take its place. Cultural stagnation was
inevitable. The country has never had an
important north-south highway across the
Satpura line from Hindustan into the
peninsula; Jubbulpore commands the best
gap. Regional isolation has been the rule.
Each invading monarchy has found India
relatively easy to subdue but difficult
to organize.

Chapter 31

REGIONS OF NORTHERN INDIA

Within the Indian Realm are many
diverse environments, here grouped into
14 geographic regions. Five of these are
in Hindustan and three in the encircling
mountains; these make up Northern India.
Six regions are in the plateau to the south
with Ceylon, and form the geographic
province of Peninsular India. The regions
of Northern India are the Bengal and Orissa
Lowland, the Ganges Valley, the Brahma-
putra Valley, the Indus Valley, the Thar
Desert, the Western Frontier, the Hima-
layan Highlands, and the Assam Hills.

Bengal and Orissa Lowland

The Ganges and Brahmaputra deltas
form a fitting approach to the regions of
India. No other area is more homogeneous
in land forms, climate, utilization, race, or
language. Mohammedans are somewhat
more numerous than Hindus, but the
difference is religious rather than racial.
The bulk of the region lies in the province
of Bengal, but it also includes the Mahanadi
delta and the coastal part of Orissa, plus a
small section of Assam in the Surma
Valley.

From the Bay of Bengal to The Himalaya
is 350 miles. In an east-west direction the
region narrows to 140 miles between the
Garo and Rajmahal hills and widens to
300 miles in the latitude of Calcutta.
Bengal itself covers 82,955 square miles,
most of it level. The adjoining areas raise
the total for the region to 90,000 square
miles.

Within this delta plain live some 55,000,-

000 people. Nowhere else in India, and in
few other places in Asia, are there so many
per square mile. The average for the
province was 616 in 1931, and in some rural
areas that figure is trebled. In contrast,
the delta of the Mississippi has 45 per
square mile (1930). Despite the presence
of Calcutta, the rural population is 96 per
cent of the whole. Bengali is spoken by
9 out of 10 people.

This region is the flood plain of the two
great river systems of the northeast.
Large areas are inundated by the October
and November floods, and hundreds of
thousands of people have been drowned in
these months. Countless natural distrib-
utaries and artificial canals intersect the
plain, especially near the coast. Three
sections around the margins are slightly
higher: next to Chota Nagpur in the west,
the Barind Hills in the north, and the
Madhupur area in the Surma Valley.
Each upland is covered with scrub jungle
and the hilltops are little used. Elsewhere
the river plains are less than 50 feet above
sea level. The old delta in the west is less
apt to be flooded than the new and actively
growing delta in the east. In the^eighteenth
century the Ganges and Brahmaputra
had separate mouths, and changes are still
frequent. The seaward margin of the
Ganges delta, known as the Sundarbans,
is intricately cut by tidal channels and
covered with mangrove forest. Conditions
in the Mahanadi delta are similar, while
between the two are coastal sand dunes.

The climate of the Bengal and Orissa
lowland is excellent for rice and jute but

458

Regions of Northern India

ill-suited for man, at least for Europeans from mid-March until the break of the
and probably for the natives as well. The monsoon. The winter cool period is short,
monsoon breaks in mid-June, bringing Rainfall amounts to 50 inches in the

The geographic regions and land forms of India. This map clearly shows the isolation of India on the
north- Within Northern India are the Bengal-Orissa Lowland, the Ganges Valley, the Brahmaputra Valley,
the Indus Valley, the Thar Desert, the Northwestern Frontier, the Himalayan Highlands, and the Assam
^fountains. Peninsular India includes the following geographic regions: the West Coast, the Black Soil Uplands,
the Northern Uplands, the Eastern Uplands, the Southern Peninsula, and Ceylon. (Base map by Erwin Raisz,
courtesy Harvard~Y enching Institute^ adapted hy Rowland Illick.)

copious rain from a warm sea, and provides Mahanadi delta and increases eastward

some coolness and relief after the sultry with 60 inches in Calcutta, 74 inches in

spring. September and October have inter- Dacca, and 157 inches at Sylhet. Despite
mittent showers and are very trying, as the almost complete absence of winter rain,

temperatures rise and the humidity is still the ground is so moist that the landscape

high; at this season Europeans go to the remains green throughout the year. Malaria
hill station of Darjeeling, as is also the case is especially serious here.

Bengal and Orissa Lowland 459

Rice covers 87 per cent of the cultivated favors the acid soils that are deficient in
land in Bengal, some 25,000,000 acres in lime, and the crop covers 2,000,000 acres,
all; in coastal Orissa the percentage is 82. Calcutta dominates eastern India and

Calcutta is Indians premier city, the major port at the head of the Bay of Bengal. Jute is the leading industry.

Dry crops such as wheat or millet are was the second largest city in the British
absent, but vegetables and oil seeds are Empire in 1941, when the population
grown. Jute is the great cash crop, espe- numbered 2,488,183, including the suburb
cially on the new delta where each flood of Howrah with 379,292. The city lies on
brings a layer of fertilizing silt. Jute the outside of a bend on the eastern bank

460

Regions of Northern India

of the Hooghly River, 120 miles from
where ships take on a pilot outside the
mouth. The port extends for 20 miles along

JFMAMJJASOND

Calcutta

Elevation, 21 feet; average temperature, 77.9®F.;
total precipitation, 58.8 inches.

the river, here at a depth of 27 feet. Spring
tides average 11 feet and keep the shifting
channel of the Hooghly scoured; otherwise
silting would block the river as it is no
longer an important distributary of the
Ganges.

The location of Calcutta is significant.
The Hooghly gives deep water; no other
rivers block railway access to the west;
canals bring raw jute from the east; coal
and iron are near by; natural levee accumu-
lations permit the drainage of sewage away
from the city into other streams; and in the
economic hinterland live some 200,000,000
people. It is around the comer from Europe
but closer to the newer markets of the Far
East. As a result of these geographic
advantages, Calcutta is one of the leading
ports of the Orient. In 1936-1937, the net
tonnage of ships entering the port was
4,082,572.

Calcutta was the British capital until
1912 and is still the commercial and
financial metropolis of India. Bombay
has the advantage of proximity to Europe,
but Calcutta is nearer domestic markets.
Scores of great British firms have splendid

office buildings here, and the metropolitan
area extends beyond the political limits to
include numerous residential and industrial
suburbs on both sides of the river. So many
workers have come from elsewhere that
in 1941 the sex ratio was 1,000 men to 452
women. The European population numbers
some 15,000, and there are about the same
number of Anglo-Indians, or those of
mixed percentage.

The only other port of the region is
Chittagong in the east, terminus of a
narrow-gauge railway to the jute and tea
districts. Interior cities are fe^y and small;
the largest is the old provincial capital
of Dacca, 213,218 in 1941, -in the center
of the jute area.

On most sides, the Bengal and Orissa
Lowland is clearly limited by hills or the
sea. To the southwest, the Chilka Lake
at the southern edge of the Mahanadi
delta is a historic boundary. On the north-
east and northwest, the main valleys of the
Ganges and Brahmaputra are set off by
slight climatic differences.

Ganges Valley

The Ganges is the life of India. The
river rises behind the snow-crowned Hi-
malaya and flows 1,500 miles through
eastern Hindustan. Along its banks are
the classical cities of Hindu history, ^^he
Ganges landscape typifies the agricultural
regime and population density made possi-
ble by the monsoon.

The region is sharply bounded by hills
to the north and south, but grades im-
perceptibly east and west where rainfall
changes bring transitions in crops. Within
the area lie most of the United Provinces
and the northern half of Bihar, a total of
about 120,000 square miles and 75,000,000
people.

Beneath the valley is an accumulation
of sand and clay to unplumbed depths,
ancient alluvial deposits spread by Tertiary

Ganges Valley

461

and Quaternary rivers in a vast geosyncline, plain surfaces are named the khadar,
The relief is almost featureless, with an while the older are the bhangar. Although
elevation of only 700 feet at Delhi. The the summer rain is heavy, capillary action

A village near Jhansi, United Provinces, with its unirrigated fields. {Courtesy Indian State Railteays.)

Ganges has two main tributaries : the
Jumna which joins it from the west and
south, and the Gogra from the north.

The rivers carry great quantities of silt
in their flood stage, and its accumulation
has built extensive natural levees, o^ten
capped by artificial embankments. When
these are overtopped, widespread inunda-
tion results, often with the formation of a
new channel and the development of lakes
or swamps along the old course. Between
the valleys, higher ground prevents flood-
ing. These areas of oldey and higher
alluvium contain early Pleistocene and
Pliocene fossils and calcium carbonate
nodules which are used for making lime
or surfacing roads. The present flood-

in the dry winter brings water to the sur-
face when its evaporation concentrates
soluble salts and alkalis in the upper soil
horizon. Over irrigation and poor subsurface
drainage aggravate the situation in the
United Provinces where three million acres
have thus been ruined.

The summer monsoon from the Bay of
Bengal is turned to the west up the valley
by the mountain barrier. Thus, precipita-
tion decreases westward away from the
sea. At the same time, maximum summer
temperatures increase so that the drier
west is also hotter. Patna in Bihar has
44 inches of rain and maximum tempera-
tures of 88°F. For Benares to the west
the figures are 41 inches and 91®F. ; Cawn-

Maximum temperatures come in May ex-
cept in the west where June is hotter.

The rainfall occurs during the growing
season and is normally adequate, but in
drier seasons irrigation is available from
wells and canals which distribute river
water. Irrigation is regularly used for
such crops as cotton and sugar cane.
Cultivated land exceeds 70 per cent of the
total, and double cropping is common.
The prevalence of large landholdings has
led to serious agrarian problems.

The Ganges Valley grows almost every
kind of crop produced in India. Summer
rice in the east interfingers with winter
wheat in the west, although each is grown

The region leads in sugar cane and lac
and in the density of cattle. Some writers
divide the valley into upper and middle
regions, for the two extremes differ in
crop combinations, irrigation practices,
natural vegetation, and soil, but there is
only a gradational change between the
dominance of such wet and dry crops as
rice and wheat and their respective climates.

The chief cities are Patna, Benares,
Allahabad, and Cawnpore on the Ganges,
Agra and Delhi on the Jumna, and Luck-
now. Patna is the modernized capital of
Bihar, celebrated for its rice. Benares,
263,100 in 1941, is a sacred city for both
Hindus and Buddhists, and its history goes

463

Ganges Valley

back long before the Christian era. The A low hill within the walls forms an acropo-
many pilgrims provide a market for fine lis. Delhi commands the narrowest gap
craft work. It is reached by river steamers between the Ganges and Indus Valleys.

The sacred Ganges is lined with bathing ghats at Benares. (Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

and has the first railway bridge over the
Ganges above Sara, north of Calcutta.
Allahabad, 260,630 in 1941, is a commercial
center at the junction of the Jumna.
Cawnpore is the most important industrial
city of northern India, a creation of modem
cotton, wool, leather, oil seed, and sugar
industries. The population of 487,324 in
1941 has doubled in ten years. Agra, 284,149
in 1941, is the site of the exquisite Taj
Mahal. The third largest city in the region
is Lucknow, with 387,177 in 1941, capital
of the United Provinces.

The position of Delhi (pronounced
Del'hi) is unique in both site and situation.
It lies on the Jumna and was at the head
of navigation until irrigation withdrawals
reduced the flow of the river. Here was the
place where water travel from the east
changed to overland routes westward
to the rivers of the Punjab. Immediately
west of the city is the Ridge, northern-
most continuation of the Aravalli Range.

Communications farther south are blocked
by the Thar Desert, while to the north

KX)®

JFMAMJJASONO

Delhi

Elevation, 718 feet; average temperature, 77.1®F.;
total precipitation, 26.2 inches.

rise The Himalaya. From Delhi to Hardwar
where the Ganges leaves the mountains is

464

Regions of Northern India

just over 100 miles. Delhi’s strategic loca-
tion is thus the most logical place for
the political control of both dry Moham-
medan western Hindustan, and the wet

Brahmaputra Valley

The Brahmaputra is even longer than the
Ganges, and for the first half of its 1,800-

The women of Assam show many of the racial traits that characterize the aborigines of Burma and southwestern

China. {Courtesy Indian State RaUviays,)

eastern Hindu part. Delhi is 950 miles
from Calcutta, and 861 and 940 miles
from Bombay and Karachi, respectively.
Railways lead in half a dozen directions.
At least six other capitals had been built
on the site before the British moved the
government of India here from Calcutta
in 1912. The government offices are in a
section known as New Delhi. The 1941
population of 675,812 makes it India’s
fifth city. The hill station of Simla, at
an elevation of 7,116 feet in the mountains
to the north, is the hot weather capital.

mile course it flows eastward parallel to
the latter but behind the mountains. In
this section through Tibet it is variously
known as the Nari Chu or Tsangpo.
Parts of its course were unsurveyed until
the twentieth century. When it enters the
Assam lowland, the river carries a tre-
mendous burden of sediment so that the
channel is braided and shifting, although
navigable. During the rainy season the
water rises 30 to 40 feet and floods vast
areas, eliminating the necessity for
irrigation.

465

Indus Valley

The Brahmaputra Valley as a geographi-
cal region is here limited to the lowland
within Assam. It opens to Bengal on the
west, but on the other three sides is hemmed
in by mountain walls, lofty on the north
and east but low to the south. The Brah-
maputra Valley is thus in contrast to
the Ganges Valley where there is access
from three sides. The valley is some 500
miles long but nowhere much more than
50 miles wide, one of the smallest of all
Indian regions.

The Garo and Khasi hills on the south
partly keep out the monsoon rains, but a
strong current moves up the valley and
gives an average rainfall in excess of
80 inches. Where the monsoon crosses the
hills, there are dry foehn effects on the north
slopes.

Rice throughout, jute in the west, and
tea in the foothills are the chief crops.
Assam is one of the world’s leading tea
producers for export. The valley still
contains large forests of teak and sal.
Elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn are
secured in the forest zones. Large areas of
land are unused, partly jungle marsh along
the river banks, so that cropland is gen-
erally under 20 per cent.

Assam is different from the rest of India
in race and history. It forms a separate
cultural area with many primitive tribes;
conditions resemble those of Burma. Un-
like the Ganges Valley, population densities
average but 150 per square mile; hence
there is a large migration into Assam,
especially for seasonal labor in the tea
plantations.

Lignite coal and oil are obtained in the
bordering hills. River steamers carry most
of the freight, although there are narrow-
gauge railways. No bridge spans the
Brahmaputra.

Indus Valley

Western Hindustan includes the plains
and low hills from the Aravalli Range west

to the Sulaiman Mountains, and from the
Salt liange and Siwaliks south to the
Arabian Sea. Much of it is the alluvial

Punjabi moneylenders wander over Northern India
and are one of the economic parasites of the country.
Interest rates may reach 75 per cent a year. (Courtesy
Paul F. Cresaey.)

valley of the Indus, but the southeastern
half lies in the Thar Desert where there
is an erosional and aeolian rather than
river-deposited surface. Each half forms a
geographic region.

The tributaries of the Indus extend along
the base of The Himalaya for 400 miles
west of Delhi, and the main river flows
south across the plain for 600 miles before
reaching the sea. About 140,000 square
miles are included within the region, with
a population of some 30,000,000. Two
distinct subregions are present, the Punjab
in the north with two-thirds the area and

466

Regions of Northern India

nine-tenths the people, and the Sind^
south of the constriction made hy the
Sulaiman Mountains and the Thar Desert.

The word Punjab is of Persian origin
and refers to the area drained by the five
tributaries of the Indus: the Jhelum,
Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej. Each
rises in The Himalaya and follows a shifting
course across vast alluvial fans until it
joins the Indus halfway to the sea. Since
the outer Himalayan hills or Siwaliks are
composed of easily eroded sedimentary
rocks, each river is overloaded with sedi-
ment whose deposition en route across
the plain continually raises the stream beds.
This aggradation has built the bed of the
lower Indus 70 feet above the surrounding
country. Irrigation by diversion canals
is made easy, but flood hazards are acute.

Each of the rivers frequently changes its
course, often by tens of miles. In the third
century b.c. the course of the Indus was
80 miles to the east of the present channel,
and it emptied into the Rann of Cutch.
The Jumna, now a Ganges tributary, once
flowed to the west, and several hundred
miles of abandoned river channels through
the Thar Desert may represent its old
course. Dead cities date back to 3000 b.c.

Interstream areas are known in India as
doabs, originally from the country between
the Ganges and the Jumna. For the most
part they are slightly higher and the sedi-
ments are mid-Pleistocene rather than
Recent. Differences between older and
younger alluvium as referred to in eastern
Hindustan are slightly more emphasized
here, such as the presence of lime nodules
or kunkur, but nowhere reach the contrasts
exhibited in Japan.

Three surfaces may be recognized in both
east and west: the modem deltas, the newer
alluvium or khadar, and the older alluvium

^ PiTHA WALLA, Manbck B., Settlements in the
Lower Indus Basin (Sind), Journal Madras 0eo~
graphical Association (1938), XIII, 823-357.

or bhangar. The material of each is essen-
tially similar, and the topographic differ-
ences are only gradational. Part of the
contrast may relate to glaciation in The
Himalaya; in part it may merely represent
normal stream planation.^

The Indus Valley is hot, even for India.
Jacobabad in the northern Sind has June
temperatures consistently reaching 120®
and with a maximum of 127®F.; and the
monthly day and night mean is 98®F.;^
rainfall is but 4 inches per year. The eastern
Punjab is somewhat more humid, with
precipitation up to 20 inches. Winters are
cool, with frost in the north.

During the winter small cyclonic storms
moving across Hindustan from Iran pro-
duce a little rain, but most of the limited
precipitation is in the summer. The Indus
Valley is exposed to both arms of the
monsoon; but the one which moves up the
Ganges is nearly dry upon arrival, while
the Arabian Sea division is rainless since
it here moves nearly overland from Iran
and Arabia.

Irrigation is essential for successful agri-
culture in most of the valley, although
some crops may be grown without it in the
north and east where rainfall is higher or
ground water is available from the hills.
Canals are an ancient development but
have been greatly expanded by the British.
There are 75,000 miles of canals and
35,000,000 million acres of canal-irrigated
land in all India, of which half are in the
Indus Valley. Each of the major streams
has its system of distributaries, with their

^ Wadia, D. N., “Geology of India,” 282-293.

DeTbrra, Helmut, and T. T. Patterson,
“Studies on the Ice Age of India and Associated
Human Cultures,” Carnegie Institution of Washing-
ton (1939).

DeTerra, Helmut, The Quaternary Terrace
System of Southern Asia and the Age of Man,
Geographical Review (1939), XXIX, 101-118.

* The highest official air temperature on earth is at
Azizia in northern Africa, 136.4®F.

467

Indus Valley

inverted dendritic pattern. Colonization money is required to get rid of surplus
started in 1886, and the 1891 population water due to subsoil saturation as is spent
density of 7 per square mile in the Punjab on irrigation supply.

Irrigated land near the Sukkar Barrage in the Sind. The cattle and wooden plows are characteristic. {Courtesy

Indian State Railways.)

rose to 272 in 1911. The sequence of Wheat is the most important crop, but
problems that follow irrigation of dry lands only half is irrigated. Yields in the Punjab
is shown by the fact that almost as much average 12.2 bushels per acre which is

468

Regions of Northern India

slightly above the all-Indian average of
11.12. Barley and oil seeds are other spring-
harvested crops, while millet and corn are

JFMAMJJASONO

Karachi

Elevation, 13 feet; average temperature, 77.6®F,;
total precipitation, 7.6 inches.

autumn crops. Cotton is an important
cash crop during the summer on irrigated
land.

The people of the Punjab are pre-
dominantly Mohammedans. The Punjabi
themselves are tall and well built and have
a long military tradition. Many of them
travel throughout India as salesmen and
as moneylenders, for the uncertainties of
the monsoon and the general lack of capital
often make it necessary for farmers to
borrow money.

Among the various peoples of the Punjab
are the Sikhs, with a religion somewhat
intermediate between the Hindus and
Mohammedans. The men are tall with a
splendid physique and make good soldiers.
A quarter of the Indian army in India are
Sikhs, who also serve as policemen in
British cities throughout the Far East.
Although they number but an eighth of
the people in the Punjab, they own a
quarter of the irrigated land.

The three cities of importance are
Lahore, with 671,659 people in 1941,
Amritsar with 391,010 in 1941, both in the
Punjab, and Karachi, 359,492 in 1941, in

Sind. Karachi is India’s fourth port and
ships wheat and raw cotton, but its humid-
ity is too low for cotton mills. The city
has been developed during the twentieth
century as an outlet for the northwest.
Since Karachi is 200 miles closer to Aden
than is Bombay, it is the nearest port to
Europe, and also the terminus for air
services.

Thar Desert

Between the Indus Valley and the
Aravalli Range at the edge of the plateau
is an arid region, nearly empty in its
northern and more desert area, and only
sparsely inhabited in the south near the
sea. It includes a large number of native
states in western Raj pu tana and northern
Bombay. In the north is the Thar Desert
proper, while in the south is Cutch.

The summer aridity of northwest India
presents several problems. Low pressures
and proximity to the sea would suggest
rain, but instead there are cloudless skies.
Winds from the east are dry since the
monsoon has lost all of its moisture coming
up the Ganges Valley, while on the north
and west are mountain barriers that keep
out surface winds. From the south, winds
enter the Sind with a relative humidity
of 80 per cent, but high surface tempera-
tures reduce this figure to 55 per cent in the
interior. A convectional rise to 3,000 feet
would give rain, but before this elevation
is reached, surface air mixes with dry air
masses from the west so that cloud forma-
tion is prevented. Thus the sun, directly
overhead, shines without interruption and
heats the surface, still further lowering
the relative humidity.

The rainfall is generally under ten
inches and, since there is little possibility
of irrigation, most of the area is a desolate
waste, covered with shifting sands or
scattered brush. Older rock hills here and

\. v'';f;-,rl^- .

.-“" * '■ '•

Thar Desert

470

Regions of Northern India

there project above the undulating surface.
Camel caravans link the few oases.

Here and there are shallow playa lakes.
The most important is Lake Sambhar,
which covers 90 square miles with a
maximum depth of four feet after occasional
rains; at other seasons it is a largely dry
salt flat.

The Rann of Cutch, to the south, was
an arm of the sea in early historic times,
but is now nearly filled with sediments
alternately wet and dry with the season.
From its salt-incrusted surface and from
sea spray, the southern monsoon annually
carries 130,000 tons of salt into Rajputana.'

In 1819, 200,000 square miles in the
western Rann sank 12 to 15 feet, while a
near-by area of 600 square miles rose
several feet.

Western Frontier

Northwestern India is not only a place,
it is a problem. Nowhere else does the
British Empire have a land frontier of such
military significance. Through these moun-
tains came all previous invasions of India;
beyond them today is the communist
Soviet Union and the restless Moham-
medan world.

Across the Indus tower the 11,000-foot
Sulaiman and the 7,000-foot Kirthar ranges.
What lies in their immediate hinterland
is not so significant as the fact that they
are a rampart bounding India on the west.
This 600-mile length of mountain wall
is about the same distance as the boundary
next to Burma, but in the east there are
climatic as well as topographic barriers
to penetration. The history of the two
frontiers is entirely different.

Six significant routes lead westward:
the Khyber Pass to Kabul in Afghanistan,
the important Bolan Pass to Quetta in
Baluchistan, the arid Makran coastal

^ Holland and Christie, Records Geological
Survey of India, XXXVIII, part % (1909).

strip, and the lesser Gomal, Kurram,
and Tochi passes. These are paths of
history. In addition there are 350 trails
usable for camels. All these tend to be
one-way roads in terms of defense, easy
for the descent of warlike tribesmen who
wish to raid the plains but difficult for the
British to penetrate and to police. Road
building has become the key to the pacifica-
tion of this frontier.

From Istanbul to the Indus, Asia is a
succession of high arid plateaus, surrounded
by mountains. Anatolia is the westernmost;
Baluchistan, the easternmost. Nowhere
in this succession is there much rain,
but such precipitation as occurs follows
the Mediterranean sequence of summer
drought when subtropical high pressure
moves northward, and of winter rain
which occurs with the displaced belt of
cyclonic storms. The Sulaiman Mountains
mark the boundary between winter-Medi-
terranean and summer-monsoon rainfall.

In topography, climate, race, and ways
of livelihood, both Baluchistan and Afghan-
istan might properly be grouped with
Southwestern Asia, but in trade and
history they are related to India. The
Western Frontier region as here considered
includes Baluchistan, most of the North-
west Frontier Province, and part of the
Punjab behind the Salt Range. The area
is some 170,000 square miles, and popula-
tion densities range from nearly zero in
some deserts and mountains, to 6 for
Baluchistan as a whole, 100 for the North-
west Frontier Province; and a few hundred
per square mile in the fertile valleys of the
Punjab.

Climatic conditions improve from south
to north, although level land unfortunately
diminishes. Quetta with ten inches of rain
represents the mean. Thus Makran is a
desolate coastal strip where people and their
cattle alike subsist on fish. Baluchistan is a
land of interior drainage and withering

Himalayan Highlands 471

rivers which descend from barren mile- The Salt Range has long attracted
high mountains. Great gravel fans testify geological attention. At its base are
to the aridity of the country. Into them, immense beds of Eocene salt, and the

The excavation of the ancient Dharmrajika stupa at Taxila, near Rawalpindi, has revealed much about India’s
early history centuries before the Christian era. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

' Persian-style tunnels or karez have been
driven for water to irrigate lower flood
plains. Sorghum is the chief grain, with
some wheat and barley. Excellent fruits
are raised. In the corner of the Punjab,
wheat leads and is followed by millet,
barley, and corn.

This is the land of the nomadic pas-
toralist rather than the settled farmer.
Transhumance is common; as summer
comes the shepherds move their flocks
and herds to the cooler mountain slopes;
in the winter they descend to the lowlands
or even to the Sind.

Baluchistan produced 21,428 tons of
chromite in 1936-1937, as well as a small
amount of coal.

overthrust structure reveals an excellent
stratigraphic record.

The three most important cities are
Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan; the
great arsenal and military post of Rawal-
pindi, the gate to Kashmir, with 181,169
people in 1941; and Peshawar on the rail-
way to the Khyber Pass, population
130,967 in 1941.

Himalayan Highlands

Himalayan structure and topography
are complex, increasingly so toward the
west. In general there are three parallel
zones. The Outer Himalaya includes the
mile-high Siwaliks with a series of Ap-
palachian-type anticlines and synclines.

47 ^

Regions of Northern India

dissected into a series of escarpments and in Tibet, but flow in opposite directions
dip slopes and separated by linear valleys and cross the mountains 1^500 miles apart,
called duns. At the southern limit is a Numerous rivers with headwaters on the

The Himalayan sky line towers above the foothills of Nepal near Sandakphu. {Ewing Galloway.)

great overthrust directed from the north, north slopes, such as the Sutlej which
The Lesser Himalaya, in the middle, rises in the same lake region, break through
rises 7,000 to 15,000 feet and is marked the ranges at right angles in antecedent
by recumbent folds and strong thrusting, valleys, the rivers being older than the
On the north is the Great Himalaya Range mountains.

with an average crest line of 20,000 feet. Some of these valleys are the deepest
Its geological structures are imperfectly canyons on earth. “The most remarkable
known but appear to resemble Scottish example is the Indus Valley in Gilgit
Highland faults rather than Alpine nappes. Agency where at one place the river flows
Igneous intrusions make the structure through a narrow defile, between enormous
complex. precipices nearly 20,000 feet in altitude.

The Himalayan Highlands present many while the bed of the valley is only 3,000
geological problems, not the least of which feet above its level at Haiderabad (the
are the river systems. Thus the Indus head of its delta). This gives to the gorge
and Brahmaputra rise near each other the stupendous depth of 17,000 feet, yet
in the area of the Manasarowar Lakes the fact that every inch of this chasm is

A street in Leh along the upper Indus in the western Himalaya. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

various elevations.”^ It is but 12 miles climatic changes brought widespread altera-
from the Indus to the peak of Nanga tions in the fauna and flora.

Parbat, 26,629 feet high. At a point on the The giant peaks are in the Great Hima-
E[ali Gandak where the stream is at laya; Nanga Parbat in Kashmir; Nanda
9,000 feet, near-by elevations on either Devi in the United Provinces, 25,645 feet;
side rise to 26,810 and 26,504 feet. The Mt. Everest in Nepal, 29,141 feet; and
Sutlej and Brahmaputra have comparable Kangchenjunga at the edge of Nepal,
gorges. 28,146 feet.

The youthful character of these valleys Between the Punjab and Chinese Sin-
is indicated by their gradients. Thus, the kiang is a complex of mountains, the
Brahmaputra descends 7,200 feet in 25 whitest, snowiest, iciest ranges outside of
miles through the main range. Few of these polar regions. In the midst of them lies
chasms can be traversed, so that access the Karakorum Pass with an elevation
to Tibet is over lofty divides, snow- of 18,550 feet. This name has been vari-
blocked for many months. ously applied to some of the snowy moun-

Pleistocene glaciers have left enormous tains, but it is now recognized that the
1 Wadia, D. N., “Geology of India/* 19. Karakorum Pass is not in the Karakorum

474

Regions of Northern India

Range. The range lies between the Indus
and Shaksgam, and includes the world’s
second highest i>eak, X*, with an elevation

Darjeeling

Elevation, 7,S76 feet; average temperature, 52.70®F.;
total precipitation, 122.7 inches.

of 28,250.^ Within this area are numerous
glaciers 30 and 40 miles long.^

Within the Himalaya and Karakorum
area there are fifty summits over 25,000
feet of which only two have been climbed,
Kamet and Nanda Devi.

Mt. Everest stands supreme, because of
both its height and the difliculty of ascent.
Serious attempts to climb it date from
1920 and involve an approach from the

^ Mason, Kenneth, Karakorum Nomenclature,
Geographical Journal (1936), XCl, 123-152.

* Cbbsset, George B., Glaciation on the Roof of
the World, Geographical Review (1931), XXI, 157-160.

north just before the arrival of the monsoon
in May.

Between the Indo-Gangetic Plain and
the Himalayan Highlands is a line of
swamps and undulating topography, con-
tinuous for most of the distance except
in the drier west. In the east this forested
strip is known as the duars, elsewhere it is
the terai. Where the terai has not been
drained, this marginal zone has a sparse
population. North of it lie the first foot-
hills, actually mile4iigh mountains but
termed hills because of what lies beyond.

Vegetation height limits are influenced
by rainfall as well as altitude, with the
heaviest precipitation in the east. Dense
subtropical forests extend as high as 6,000
feet. Deciduous forests are typical between
5,000 and 11,000 feet, and in this zone are
the hill stations of Darjeeling, 7,135 feet,
and Simla to the west, 7,116 feet. The former
has 122.7 inches of rain while the latter
receives but 72 inches. Coniferous trees are
present from 9,000 to 12,000 feet. Here the
air has lost most of its moisture and rainfall
is under 40 inches. Rhododendron grows
from 9,000 to 13,500 feet, while stunted
alpine growths, seldom over two feet in
height, prevail above this, according to
exposure. Beyond is barren rock and snow.
On the south slopes, the snow line descends
to 14,000 feet in the east and 19,000 feet in
the west. On the dry Tibetan side elevations
are higher.

Between the Outer and Lesser Himalaya
and north of the Punjab is the famed Vale
of Kashmir in the Jhelum Valley. At an
elevation of 5,250 feet lies Srinagar, sur-
rounded by cultivated fields and glorious
mountains, the capital of the Indian state
of Kashmir. The people of Kashmir are
noted for their art and industry. Shawls
made of goats’ wool, carpets, woolen
cloth, and wood carving are world famous.
Houseboat trips on the Jhelum and the
Dal Lake provide some of the most beautiful
views in the world.

Assam Mountains

475

Indian cultural influences do not extend where the winds are forced to rise over
far into the mountains, but British political mountains. The second heaviest rainfall
influence is effective even in Lhasa. Most station in the world is at Cherrapunji,

The Dal Lake at Srinagar in the Vale of Kashmir. This is a justly famous tourist center in the western Himalayan
Highlands. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

of Tibet has already been considered in the
chapters on China.

Assam Mountains

The region includes the east-west Garo
and Khasi hills and the north-south ranges
near the Burma border. The lowlands of
Assam have already been considered.
Although the area is small, the rainfall is
noteworthy and the lack of roads into
Burma makes this an effective barrier for
the eastern frontier.

The Assam Mountains receive the full
force of the monsoon from the Bay of
Bengal, and the rainfall is especially heavy

where the average total is 451.6 inches.
This station lies at 4,309 feet next to the
steep southern face of the Khasi Hills;
in contrast Shillong within the mountains
but back from the edge of the range at
4,920 feet receives but 84 inches, while
Sylhet in the lowlands to the south has
157 inches.

Natural vegetation reflects the rainfall,
with a dense tropical rain forest with little
agriculture or lumbering in the wetter
areas. Agriculture is limited to fire clearings
where the ash supplies fertilization, and to
the few areas of alluvium along the streams.
Corn, millet, and rice are grown.

Chapter 32

REGIONS OF PENINSULAR INDIA

The contrasts between northern and the Northern Uplands, *the Eastern Up-
southem India are largely in matters of lands, the Southern Peninsula, and Ceylon,
surface configuration. Rainfall is slightly The West Coast is sharply defined by the

Bombay is the cotton mill center and chief port of western India.

lower in the southern farm lands, and crops line of the Western Ghats, but elsewhere
are therefore different. Many of the inhabi- other boundaries are less clear. The
tants are Dravidians rather than the Hindu Vindhya Range sets off the Northern
peoples of the north. Hindu religion pre- Uplands. East of Bombay there is the
dominates with only small areas of Moham- famous area of Deccan lava flows with its
medans. None of these contrasts is at all Black Soil region. The Eastern Uplands
comparable to the striking differences from the Godavari River to the Chota
between North and South China, Nagpur Plateau include a variety of

Within Peninsular India are five major topographic and geographic conditions,
regions, while near-by Ceylon adds a sixth: different from their surroundings and
the West Coast, the Black Soil region, sufficiently homogeneous to be grouped

476

West Coast

477

together. This leaves the Southern Penin-
sula of Madras and Mysore. Some regional
classifications define an East Coast com-
parable to the West Coast, but the Eastern
Ghats are much lower and do not isolate
the southern interior from the coastal
lowlands.

West Coast

The West Coast region is a narrow strip
of lowland and escarpment from Cape
Comarin at the tip of the peninsula to the
Gulf of Cambay, a thousand miles to the
north. Little uniformity and less coherence
can be expected in such an attenuated area,
yet certain factors entitle the region to be
considered as a unit.

The Arabian Sea is bordered by fault
escarpments on three sides, perhaps as
recent as the Pliocene; these mark the
margins of a down-dropped block. One
of these dislocations forms the Western
Ghats at the edge of the Deccan Plateau.
Viewed from the sea, these are 3,000-foot
mountains; seen from the east they are a
line of hills. The topographic contrast of
this asymmetrical divide is striking; youth-
ful canyons on the west are actively gnaw-
ing into eastward-draining ^pen valleys
in late maturity.

The northern half of the escarpment is
cut in horizontal lava flows, so that slopes
have a steplike development. Farther
south, granitic rocks prevail and the land
forms are more rounded.

Toward the south, the Eastern and
Western Ghats meet in the Nilgiri Hills,
which rise to 8,700 feet. South of them is
the 800-foot Palghat Gap, and farther
south are the high Cardamom Hills.

The Western Ghats receive the full
effect of the summer monsoon off the
Arabian Sea. Throughout most of the
region, precipitation at sea-level stations
exceeds 100 inches, diminishing to the
north. Bombay has only 74 inches and

southern Gujarat but 40 inches. As the
moist winds rise over the mountains, rainfall
increases to iSOO and even 300 inches at

A village street in British Cochin, south India.
{Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

hill stations. In the basin of the hydro-
electric installation near Bombay, as much
as 540 inches has been recorded in 90 days.^

In the extreme north are the only west-
ward-flowing rivers of importance in all
India, the Narbada and Tapti. South of
these valleys the Western Ghats present a
barrier 'which is crossed by only three rail-
ways until the Palghat Gap is reached.
Along the Konkan coast in the north the
mountains come close to the sea and restrict
level land to discontinuous strips a few
miles in width. Farther south the Malabar
coast widens to 70 miles. Barrier beaches
with sand dunes and lagoons fringed with
mangrove swamp are characteristic.

In general there are three linear sub-
regions: a sandy coastal strip intensively
^Lyde, L. W., “The Continent of Asia,” 445.

478 Regions of Peninsular India

used for cocoanut palms; a cultivated zone only Indian area for the commercial pro-
of alluvium, half of it in rice; and the duction of coir, the fiber from cocoanut
heavily forested mountain slopes. Large husks. Copra and cocoanut oil form impor-

The crowded city of Bombay, whose name means “good bay.’' {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

supplies of bamboo, teak, ebony, and tant exports. Coffee acreage has declined
sandalwood are rafted down the turbulent but is replaced by tea. Rubber is gradually
rivers in flood stage. Despite the extensive expanding. Quinine is produced on govern-
area of improductive land, the population ment cinchona plantations in the Nilgiri
density exceeds 400 per square mile. Hills at altitudes over 3,000 feet and is sold

Overland communications are limited at low prices at every post office in India
and have always tended to isolate the in order to check malaria.^
region from the rest of India. Access to Bombay is the one good natural harbor,
the sea is not much easier, for harbors are not only of the West Coast but almost for
few and most navigation must be suspended all India. The city lies on a hilly island
for three months at the height of the which protects a large bay, sheltered at all
monsoon. Trade dates back to early times seasons. Behind the city two passes give
when Arab merchants made regular voy- access for railway lines to the interior,
ages to Zanzibar and the African coast. Hydroelectric power is available in the
back and forth with the monsoons. Most mountains and is supplemented by coal
of the Indian sailors or lascars employed on brought from Calcutta by boat. The
British boats trading with Asia come from hinterland grows cotton, India’s most
this region. Coastal fishing is important. important commercial crop and the basis
Several special products are obtained K. N.. Chinchona Cultivation iu

here. The oldest and most famous are India, Journal Madras Geographical Association
pepper, ginger, and other spices. This is the (1939), XIV, 410-414.

479

Black Soil Region

of the city’s chief industry. Bombay’s
development coincides with the completion
of rail connections in 1861, just in time
to profit from the cotton shortage that
arose with the United States Civil War.
After this emergency passed, the opening
of the Suez Canal in 1869 established
Bombay as the principal western gateway
to India. Although second to Calcutta as
a port, Bombay is of major importance for
communications with Europe. It is the
center of Indian finance and industrial
management, whereas Calcutta is domi-
nated by British capital.

The population of Bombay was 1,489,883
in 1941, second to Calcutta. The city is
particularly congested, and high labor
costs are driving cotton mills to the interior.
Social contrasts are striking. On the one
hand Bombay has some of the worst
industrial slums in the world; on the other
hand there are splendid boulevards and
wealthy Parsee and European merchants.
There is a constant flow of factory workers
back and forth to their family homes in
the villages, so that the ratio of women
to men in Bombay is 547,000 to 942,000.
Linguistic and racial groupings are much
more heterogeneous than in New York
City. In public places, caste is an almost
forgotten phenomenon, although in some
aspects it is rigid. Housing conditions are
so serious that one-third of the population
live in single rooms occupied by six persons
or more.

The second most important port on the
West Coast is the Portuguese city of Goa,
terminus for the only rail line across the
Ghats between Bombay and the Palghat
Pass. Other cities of historic interest are
Calicut and Cochin, the latter with a
newly developed port that rivals Madras.

Black Soil Region

The most distinctive and one of the most
puzzling soils of India is the black regur

soil of the western Deccan. In color, clay
content, abundance of lime, and fertility
it somewhat resembles the chernozems of

JFMAMJJASOND

Bombay

Elevation, 87 feet; average temperature, 79.3®F.;
total precipitation, 79.4 inches.

temperate grasslands, but it is low in
organic matter and the color is not a
result of carbonaceous material. The dis-
tribution of black soil is more or less
coextensive with the great flows of basalt,
and it was once regarded as a normal
product of weathering in situ. It is now
clear that representative regur is also
found on metamorphic rocks and alluvium,
and that not all areas underlain by lava
have typical black soil.

Black soil is best developed on level to
undulating upland or valley areas where
soil-forming processes have reached matu-
rity. On slopes where erosion intervenes, the
color is more reddish and the soil more
sandy. Where most mature, the regur is a
heavy clay, high in calcium carbonate,
iron oxides, and alumina, but low in humus.
Even without fertilizers it produces excel-
lent crops, and the texture is especially
favorable for the retention of summer mois-

Regions of Peninsular India

480

ture for winter agriculture. The black color
may be due to dark mineral constituents.

The best environmental conditions for
the regur appear to be 20 to 40 inches of
rainfall, concentrated in a brief wet season,
with high temperatures at other times of
the year. Natural vegetation is of the dry
savanna type. Only a part of the geo-
graphic region has fully developed deep
black soil; elsewhere it is medium to
reddish black and more sandy.

Most of the Black Soil region is under-
lain by great fissure eruptions of basaltic
lava, poured out at an uncertain date
between the late Cretaceous and early
Eocene. Despite erosion, more than 200,000
square miles are still covered. The term
“trap** as sometimes applied to the area
is used in the Swedish meaning of stairs or
steps, referring to the surface form of the
outcrops, rather than as a geologic term
for the rock itself. To avoid confusion it is
better to describe the material as basalt
and the topography as a scarped tableland.

Individual flows are a few tens of feet
in thickness and may be separated by ash
or sedimentary layers. Columnar jointing
is so well developed that the water table
is at considerable depths, often beyond
the reach of the native wells. The material
is a uniform augite basalt, grayish green
to purple or red in color. There is a maxi-
mum thickness of 6,000 feet in the west,
but the flows thin rapidly in all directions.
No trace remains of ancient volcanoes, and
the material all appears to be derived from
fissures.

The Black Soil region is limited on the
west by the crest of the Western Ghats
with their heavier rainfall, although basalt
locally reaches the sea. The geographic
boundary on the north is near the Narbada
Valley, which in turn is bounded on the
south by the Satpura and Mahadeo hills
and on the north by the Vindhya Bange.
Eastward and southward the limits of the

region are not so clear. In general, the
region reaches the Waingange Valley along
the eightieth meridian, and extends to the
southern limits of Bombay and Hyderabad.
Within the area is all of interior Bombay,
all of Hyderabad, and the western half of
the Central Provinces. Two westward-
flowing rivers drain the north: the Narbada
and Tapti, while the Godavari and Kistna
flow to the east.

Throughout the region, jowar is the
dominant food crop, both for man and
beast. It is grown on the black soil and
accommodates itself to rainfall variations.
Bajra replaces jowar as a supplementary
food crop on lighter soils. Legumes are
often interplanted. These are rainy crops
and are rotated with wheat and linseed
which will grow during the dry season.
Rice is rarely raised.

Cotton is the chief commercial crop,
but conditions are not too favorable.
The short rainy period requires that quick-
maturing short-staple varieties be grown.
Planting occurs as soon as the rains
moisten the ground in June, and the grow-
ing season is somewhat lengthened by
irrigation. Fortunately, the regur soils
retain moisture into the maturing period.
American varieties do not do well here,
although they are suited to the Indus
Valley. Most of the fiber is under one inch.
The chief areas are the deep black soils
of the Tapti and upper Godavari valleys.

The interior Deccan is one of India’s
traditional famine zones. It lies in the rain
shadow of the Western Ghats, so that
rainfall is from 20 to 40 inches; the vari-
ability is 25 per cent. Not only does the
total vary, but the duration and intensity
fluctuate. When it does rain, an average of
inch per day is common. Since the sur-
face regur soil is tight, much of the water
runs off. Tanks are widespread, and numer-
ous large reservoirs, many of them modern
engineering works, store rainfall in the areas

481

Bldck Soil Region

of heavier precipitation near the Western Marathas, whose distribution closely cor-
Ghats. The fortunate moisture-retaining responds with the extent of the lava

A village sugar mill in southern India. The cane is crushed between rollers turned by the oxen at the right, while
the sirup is evaporated over a fire in the background. {Courtesy Paul F. Cressey,)

capacity of the soil does not necessitate
as much irrigation as elsewhere.

Until the introduction of railways and
an export market for cotton, wheat, and
linseed, the Deccan remained backward
and isolated. Few of the invasions into
Hindustan from the northwestern passes
effectively penetrated the Vindhyan for-
ests and mountains. Cultural conditions
changed but little for centuries, and in
the absence of stimulating intercourse there
could be little progress. Each village was
self-sufficient. The blacksmith, carpenter,
and potter worked for the village as a whole
and were paid by it at harvesttime. There
were few outside needs and little money
with which to buy them.

Population densities now average 200
per square rnile, with about 10 acres per
farm family. Most of the people are

flows. Only a few cities are outstanding.
Hyderabad is a capital city with 739,159

90 *

80 *

70*

60*

50*

40 «

32 ®

JFMAMJJASOND

Nagpub

in 1941; Poona had a 1941 population of
258,197; midway between them is Sholapur

484

Regions of Peninsular India

and Mahadeo Hills, a continuation of the
Satpura line; westward the area merges
with the Black Soil region. The southern
limit is less well defined but is drawn near
the Godavari River, excluding the delta.
Between the Eastern Ghats and the sea
is a narrow coastal plain, which may be
included for convenience.

Over large areas, cultivated land drops
below 10 per cent, and nowhere is it much
over 50 per cent. This is not due to inade-
quate or fluctuating rainfall, for precipita-
tion is from 40 to 60 inches and is as
dependable as anjrwhere in the country.
Most hillsides are still in forest and too
steep for cultivation if cleared. Rice and
ragi millet are the dominant crops, but
irrigation is diflicult on account of the
extent of stream dissection. Only locally is
it possible to irrigate interstream areas with
canals to divert river water. Wheat, cotton,
jowar, and bajra are absent. Corn, oil
seeds, and legumes are grown for local
consumption.

Within the region are practically all the
Permo-Carboniferous rocks of the Deccan,
and in them there is excellent bituminous
coal. The principal fields are in Bihar,
Hyderabad, and the Central Provinces.
Reserves in the Raniganj, Jherria, Bokaro,
and Karanpura fields account for the bulk
of India’s coal, particularly that of cok-
ing quality. The near-by iron range of
Singhbhum has provided a basis for
spectacular metallurgical developments in
the new city of Jamshedpur. Mica and
manganese deposits are extensive.

The eastern coast is as poorly supplied
with harbors as the western. With the
completion of a railroad from Nagpur over
the Eastern Ghats to Vizagapatam, this
city has become an important port for the
region, with the best harbor on the entire
east coast. Shipments of second-grade
manganese ore are important. The back-
ward nature of the Eastern Uplands is

suggested by the absence of any city with
100,000 people.

Southern Feninavla

The Southern Peninsula has high tem-
peratures and high humidity throughout
the year. There is never a cool season
except in the highlands, so that the terms
summer and winter become meaningless.
The thermometer rarely exceeds 100®F.,
but the climate is . enervating and fully
tropical. Palm trees flourish. Most of the
area is sheltered from the southwest
monsoon by the Western Ghats, but
beginning in October there are three
months of heavy rain brought by tropical
hurricanes off the Bay of Bengal during
the “retreating” monsoon. The annual
rainfall declines from 50 inches at Madras
to half that figure in the shadow of the
Western Ghats, but there higher and cooler
elevations increase the rainfall effective-
ness. The area receives but little moisture
from the northeast monsoon winds.

Within the geographic region are three
topographic subregions: the Carnatic
coastal plains and deltas of the Godavari,
Kistna, and Cauvery Rivers; a succession
of low hills up to 500 feet; and the table-
land of Mysore in the west. Population
densities vary accordingly, from an average
of 400 per square mile and a maximum of
four times that figure along the Coast to
150 per square mile in the northwest
plateaus. The total population is about
50,000,000 in an area of 125,000 square
miles.

This is one of the most progressive parts
of all India. The people speak Tamil and
Telegu and are unusually literate since
a third of the people in Madras are able
to read and write. Hindus comprise 88 pei
cent of the total and there are only a fev
Moslems. Many cultural contrasts set ofl
this southern region from the rest of India

The Meenakshi Temple and Golden Lily Tank at Madura represent the Hindu architecture of south India.

{Courtesy Indian

the former where fields may be fiooded,
the latter on drier upland soil. Cultivation
is more difficult than for dry crops such as
jo war, since irrigation is imperative. Since
rainfall is uncertain, the Southern Penin-
sula has often been a famine zone. Pre-
cipitation records indicate that in the
stations where the average is 25 to 30
inches per year, during 50 years there are
11 to 13 which are dry and 6 to 8 with
severe drought. With 30 to 40 inches, 7 to
11 years are dry of which 2 to 5 are serious.
Where the rainfall exceeds 40 inches in
the northern Deccan, only 4 to 7 years are
dry in 50, of which from none to 2 are se-
verely dry. Tanks and wells are widely used.

State Railways,)

engineering works. In the Cauvery delta,
1,000,000 acres have long had an uncertain
supply from local irrigation canals. With
the building of a huge dam upstream at
Mettur, this area now has dependable
water and 300,000 additional acres are
available for raising rice.

Cotton is grown on 2,000,000 acres,
partly for export. The big cash crop is
peanuts, raised for their oil, especially
in the area northwest of Madras. Sugar
cane, cocoanuts, and tobacco are also
grown. Teak and sandalwood come from
the higher hills in the west. Commercial
crops are not so important as in the
Black Soil region.

Southern Peninsula 485

such as the bright-colored clothes and old- The total irrigated area in Madras prov-
style Hindu architecture. ince covers 7,500,000 acres. A consider-

Rice and ragi millet are the staple crops, able part of this is the result of modern

486

Regions of Peninsular India

Liiterite is widespread in the plateau the residual bricklike product of long-
but reaches its climax in the south. Where continued weathering on a peneplain; from
fully developed, it is a brick-red porous this parent material may be developed a

A bird’s-eye view of the city of Srirangam with its Hindu temples. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

residual formation, high in hydrated oxides
of iron and aluminum and low in clay and
silica. Extreme compositions range from
limonite to bauxite. Underlying bedrock
is apparently less important as a determin-
ing factor than a rainfall of over 50 inches,
a wet and dry season, the absence of
erosion, and tropical vegetation. The
development of true laterite may require a
time as long as that since the Eocene. When
freshly quarried, laterite may be cut with
a shovel, but on exposure to the air it
becomes indurated and makes a good
building material. The word is from the
Latin meaning a brick. Laterite is equally
well developed on the high basalt hills of
Bombay and the low areas of Madras.
The term laterite should be restricted to

lateritic soil. The agricultural value is low.
Older buried laterites are found at various
horizons in the stratigraphic column.

Madras is Indians third city, 777,481 in
1941, and her fourth port.^ The site has
nothing to recommend it and was chosen
accidentally when an English ship un-
loaded cargo on an open sandy beach.
The present harbor is an artificial enclosure

^ Armstrong, C. C., The Port of Madras, Journal
Madras Geographical Associalion (1989), XIV, 146-
154.

Loganathan, P, S., The Industries of Madras,
Journal Madras Geographical Association (1989).
XIV, 165-168.

Dowib, P. G., The Physical Aspects and the
Geology of the Neighborhood of Madras, Journal
Madras Geographical Association (1989), XIV, 319-
401.

487

Ceylon

about a half mile square. The hinterland
requires some port, and in the absence of
possible competition, Madras has grown.
The vicinity lacks coal or important
industrial minerals, but hydroelectric power
may be brought from the Western Ghats,

The city of Madras has long had foreign
contacts, and its hinterland is one of the
most advanced parts of the Indian Realm.
A higher percentage of people speak Eng-
lish there than elsewhere, and the city is
more Europeanized. This progressiveness
of southern India resembles the situation in
Canton and South China.

Leather preparation is a significant
industry, with the bark of the avaram
shrub used for tanning. Sheepskins are
exported in tanned form; goatskins com-
monly are untanned. Cowhide is shipped in
both forms. Hides and skins account for
54 per cent of the outgoing trade of Madras,
with peanut oil 16 per cent. Raw cotton
and tobacco are also shipped. The number
of cotton mills is declining within the city,
but those which remain are among the
largest and best. Cotton mills are important
throughout Madras province.

Bangalore in the Mysore upland has a
population of 406,760 in 1941, and its
elevation gives it a healthy and pleasant
aspect. The 1941 population of Madura
was 239,144.

Ceylon

The island of Ceylon has long been a port
of call halfway across the Indian Ocean
for ships between the East and the West.
Chinese junks here met Arab vessels 2,000
years ago, and trade between the Orient
and Europe by this route supplemented
the overland commerce through central
Asia. Ceylon is shown on Ptolemy’s maps
of the second century a.d. and was visited
by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa Hsien
in the fourth century. In the thirteenth
century, Marco Polo on his way home

described Ceylon as “the best island of its
size in the world.”

Ceylon has been a British Crown Colony

JFMAMJJASONO

Madras

Elevation, 22 feet; average temperature 81.8®F.;
total precipitation, 49.6 inches.

since 1802, and so its administration is
separate from that of India. Before that
time it was Portuguese and later Dutch.

Geologically, Ceylon is a slightly de-
tached part of the Western Ghats, sep-
arated by a submerged gap comparable
to that of Palghat. The strait is 22 miles
wide, full of sand banks and low islands,
and through it there is only one navigable
passage. In its geography Ceylon resembles
India, with increased emphasis on low
latitude.

The core of the island is a mass of Pre-
Cambrian crystalline rocks which form a
central mountain area, rising to 8,292 feet.
Encircling these hills and mountains are
lowlands and a coastal plain. Mineral
resources in the interior include graphite,
gem stones such as sapphires and rubies,
and iron ore for which there is no coal.

As Ceylon is nearly on the equator, the
temperature is uniform throughout the
year. Thus Colombo has monthly averages
between 79 and 82° for the year. Both
monsoons bring rain, first to one side of the
island and then to the other. On the slopes
precipitation amounts to 100 and 200

488

Regions of Peninstdar India

inches, and the total everywhere exceeds
50 inches except in the extreme southeast
and northwest where there are no hills to

Colombo

Elevation, 24 feet; average temp>eratiire, 80.2°F.;
total precipitation, 83.1 inches.

lift and cool the monsoon winds. The
climatic division between the east and west
coasts, conditioned by seasonal rains, is as
geographically important as the topo-
graphic difference based on altitude. Drain-
age is more significant than irrigation for
most crops.

Within an area of 23,232 square miles,
the 1940 population numbered 5,981,000.
Only a fiifth of the land is productive,
although more than half might be culti-
vated. A dependable tropical climate
prevents distress. The rice production does
not meet local needs, but the export of
commercial crops pays for imported food.

Around the sandy coast are extensive

cocoanut plantations, hence copra is a large
export. Rice is grown on the plains, and
its acreage is nearly as large as that
in cocoanuts. Other lowland crops are
cinnamon, cloves, and citronella oil. Ceylon
is a typical tropical island, with warm
but not oppressive temperatures which
favor agriculture.

The interior hills were once covered with
splendid forests, of which only small areas
remain. Many areas were cleared by fire
to secure suitable soils for raising coffee.
This crop has now declined and is replaced
by tea. Ceylon tea is superior to most
of the Assam product, and there is a large
export to England and the United States.
Tea is Ceylon’s most valuable export.
Rubber now exceeds tea in acreage, but the
value is only half. Cacao and quinine are
also produced. Some of the mountain
people carry on migratory cultivation in
fire clearings. The mountain core has always
had greater economic significance than the
lowlands.

Colombo is the chief city, 284,155 in
1931, and the leading port of the Indian
Ocean. The harbor is partly artificial
and adequate for the extensive transit
traffic. Kandy in the hills is an important
center for Buddhism, which has entirely
disappeared from India proper. On the east
•coast is the splendid natural harbor of
Trincomalee, chief British naval base in
the Indian Ocean.

Chapter 33

INDIA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD

Foreign Trade

The early trade of India was limited by
inadequate internal communications and
the difficult routes to Europe either around
Africa by sea or overland via Iran. Muslins
and gems were traded for gold. The Suez
Canal changed part of the picture in 1869
when bulky agricultural products of low
value could reach Europe. Until 1931
India was the world’s greatest market for
the precious metals. Most of these were
hoarded and taken out of circulation.
Lyde states that, since the days of the
Roman Empire, India has consumed 60
per cent of the world’s gold production and
40 per cent of its silver.^

Two trade avenues led outward from
pre-British India, neither very significant.
One crossed the northwestern frontier to
inner Asia and China; the other contact
was provided by Arab sailors who traded
along the coasts westward to Africa and
eastward sometimes as far as Canton.
It is a commentary on India’s isolation
that her most important export was not
goods but a religion, Buddhism, which
traveled to China with the lightest of
baggage.

The individual purchasing power of the
Indian peasant is low, but the aggregate
bulk is so large that the country ranks as
one of the major foreign-trade areas.
Measured in the pre-devaluation gold
dollars of 1932, the United Kingdom led
the world with a total foreign trade of
4,677 million dollars in 1937, followed by

^Lyde, L. W., “The Continent of Asia,” 478.

the United States with 3,797 million dollars.
Next in order were Germany, France,
Japan, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands,
and India in ninth place with 827 million
dollars’ worth of trade.^

India’s overseas trade has fluctuated
widely. Imports reached their maximum
in 1920-1921 when the total was $1,143,-
700,000, in contrast to $280,100,000 in
the depression year of 1933-1934. Exports
have ranged from $1,368,500,000 ip 1925-
1926 to $336,000,000 in 1934-1935. In any
case, the per capita trade total is low, only
$4.05 in 1937. Ceylon statistics are separate,
and amount to $35.65 per person.

Until the First World War, England
dominated Indian trade, particularly im-
ports. Since the war, England’s share has
steadily fallen, amounting to 39 per cent
of the imports and 33 per cent of the exports
in 1937. In terms of total trade, Japan
had 15 per cent and the United States 9 per
cent, respectively. Two-thirds of the ship-
ping is in British boats. India is still
Britain’s best customer, with even more
trade than with the United States.

Exports are dominantly agricultural.
Raw and manufactured cotton made up
25 per cent, while jute and burlap com-
prised 22 per cent of the whole in 1936-
1937. Tea constituted 10 per cent and would
be more if Ceylon were included. Peanuts
and other oil seeds accounted for 9 per
cent. Leather and manganese are also
significant. Raw cotton exports doubled
from 1932 to 1937, with about half the

^Foreign Commerce Yearbook, TJ.S. Department
of Commerce (1938), 419.

4H9

Loading cotton grown in the Deccan on the modern docks at Bombay. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Imports include decreasing amounts of exports to the United States totaled $131,-
cotton cloth, 19 per cent of the total in 510,000, half of it jute and burlap with
1936-1937, machinery 11 per cent, pig important quantities of raw cotton, goat-
iron and other metals 8 per cent, auto- skins, shellac, mica, manganese, and agri-
mobiles 6 per cent, and petroleum 5 per cultural products. Each of these figures
cent. India is thus a standard example of an is double that for 1939.
undeveloped land with agricultural exports The greatest transit port of the Indian
and manufactured imports, gradually work- Realm is Colombo in Ceylon, a point of
ing toward a balance. Few of her products call for every boat traveling from Suez to
are indispensable, but the world secures Singapore. The net register of ships enter-
substantial parts of its jute, manganese, ing in 1937 amounted to 20,425,000 tons,
mica, graphite, and tea from the Indian as much as all the ports of India and Burma
R«alm. together. Most of these vessels took on or

United States trade with India in 1941 discharged very little cargo but stopped for
included Indian imports of automobiles, supplies. Bombay* and Calcutta are rivals

Political Relations

491

for first place among Indian ports. If
shipments of bullion are included, Bombay
usually leads in value; for merchandise
only, or in tonnage, Calcutta is ahead.
The tonnage of vessels entering Bombay in
1941 was six million tons while Calcutta
had nine million tons. Karachi is third
with two million, followed by Madras
with one million tons and Cochin with
about the same.

Imports at each port are similar, but
exports reflect local production : cotton from
Bombay, jute from Calcutta, cotton and
wheat from Karachi, and hides from
Madras.

Most of India’s trade has been westward,
but eastern Asia is playing a larger role.
Japan captured much of Britain’s textile
business and replaced Germany for mis-
cellaneous manufactures prior to the Second
World War. The United States has found
an enlarging market in India. Railways to
China and the Soviet Union may someday
involve extensive commerce, but the centers
of population of India’s neighbors are
remote from the border.

India will assuredly produce a larger
share of her own industrial needs, cer-
tainly of textiles, and this will somewhat
disrupt present trade relations. But as
internal prosperity increases, purchasing
power will rise, and a rich India will be
a better world customer than a poor India.

Political Relations

To find solutions for India’s political
problems is extraordinarily difficult, and
to administer them may be even more so.
Until 1919, British India was a dependency
ruled by the government of the United
Kingdom. In that year, a considerable
measure of Internal autonomy was granted
the British provinces, although vital items
of defense and finance were reserved to
the Viceroy. The protected Indian states

retain their individual and complex treaty
relations to the crown, and for the most
part are not subject to any action by Brit-
ain that might affect their independence.

In 1935 there were further extensions of
provincial autonomy with elected legisla-
tures, and a central government was set up
which provided for an All-India Federation
uniting the democratically organized prov-
inces and the autocratic Indian states.
The Government of India Act of that year
contains the longest and most complex
constitution in the world, and its worka-
bility is still uncertain. Although not
expressly stated; some sort of Dominion
status within the Empire was the goal.
The scheme involved dual authority and
reserved rights by which England retained
control of foreign affairs, the army, and
finance.

Will India remain within the British
Commonwealth ? All the present dominions
have the tradition of English parliamentary
government, and it is an open question as
to whether this will work in India. Is
nationalist India able to defend itself and
maintain internal order? Wide differences
of opinion exist on these problems. Many
British and some Indians, including most
of the Princes, consider that the end of
external rule would bring civil anarchy.
The Nationalists believe that India can
achieve political coherence despite her
lack of cultural unity, but the evidence is
not clear. Any weakening of governmental
authority would be especially serious
because of the dependence of so much
agriculture on government-supervised ir-
rigation, and on account of the potential
cultural antagonisms now held in check.

Internal fragmentation has permitted
British rule, for no group resents England
quite so much as it fears other groups.
The removal of the capital from Calcutta
to interior Delhi away from possible naval
protection represented a large measure of

492

Indians Place in the World

maturity and points the way to diminishing
external authority.

Only about 4,000 Englishmen are actu-
ally in the civil or administrative services.
Others are engaged in railway or other
technical occupations, and there were about
60,000 in the army during the interwar
years, but the total of all Britishers in
India is quite inadequate to hold the
<K)untry by force. When India is ready
for independence, it is probable that she
will have it. What her place in the world
will then be, only time can tell.

The Indian Ocean has been essentially
a British lake, economicAlly tributary to
commercial England. From Cape Town
to Singapore, British trade in British
ships bound for British ports has dominated
all activity. The only important exception
was the Netherlands Indies with its rubber
and tin. India is the most significant of the
lands bordering this ocean, both in popula-
tion and productivity. It may be half a
century before industrial developments
make the country reasonably self-sufficient
and the center of a commercial sphere
of its own. When that time comes, the
Indian Realm should be one of the half-
dozen major economic units of the world.
If it is not, it will be a reflection on the
people and their climatic handicaps.

But can India work out its own destiny
in the meantime? Expanding Japan is
only around the corner, and European
imperalistic struggles hold other dangers.
India is without adequate military defense
of her own, but the spirit of nationalism
has gone so far that it is doubtful whether
India can again be conquered and subdued
by an outside power. Even if this should
temporarily be the case, the ultimate
emergence of an independent India is
reasonably assured. India will never domi-
nate the world in industrial or political
authority, but its leading place in the

affairs of southern Asia and the Indian
Ocean is certain.

Cultural Contributions

Amid the contrasts and confusion of
India, one must be careful to give proper
values to the many aspects of Indian
life. No single generalization nor observa-
tion gained from a casual tour can embrace
them all. Why is India so confusing? Why
are the realities of poverty in such contrast
to the material resources and the spiritual
achievements ?

“India must not be judged by its great
ports and other industrial areas. These
latter are the scene of striking anachron-
isms, symptomatic of the direct impinge-
ment of the modern on the medieval. In
Bombay, for instance, the motorcar —
driven possibly by a Parsee lady — dodges
in and out between foot-passengers and
bullock-carts; the latest product of the
universities jostles with the fakir, and broad
and beautiful streets look out to the narrow
alleys of an Eastern bazaar. In a few
moments one may pass from the luxurious
dancing hall of the Taj Mahal Hotel to
dimly lighted back-streets whose pave-
ments are covered with the sleeping figures
of the inhabitants of the chawls, i.e.,
working-class dwellings, or from the oper-
ating theater of an up-to-date hospital to
the haunts of emaciated, disabled beggars,
who drag their possibly self -mutilated limbs
through the noisome dust and dirt of the
gutters. Mechanical inventions and the
materialistic outlook have begun to leaven
India, but it is necessary to realize the im-
mense size and importance of what still
remains unleavened. The crumbling of the
authority of caste, the loosened bands of
religion, the adoption of the Western
‘economic’ outlook, and acceptance of
Western methods and ideals have as yet
affected only a tiny percentage of the
people. The masses undoubtedly still live

The Jain temple at Balabhais in Kathiawar is a fairyland of domes and spires, representative of the exotic
beauty of India. {Courtesy Indian State Railways.)

Cultural Contributions

493

in the material surroundings and retain the
social outlook of medievalism.^’*

An evaluation of the Indian way of life

the other. Each has made major contribu-
tions to our world. Because India has had
limited relations with North America, the

should not be based on the extent to which
it differs from or resembles our own.
Cultural differences among people reflect
their history and environment rather than
innate biological differences. The impor-
tance of a civilization is in proportion to
its past, present, and potential world influ-
ence, and here the case for India is secure.

India has one of the world’s few great
historic cultures. The others are the Chinese
and Japanese, and the Egyptian and
Babylonian which developed in two lines:
the Greek, Roman, and European on the
one hand and the Islamic civilization on

1 Anstey, Vera, “The Economic Development of
India,” 1-2.

United States is just beginning to appre-
ciate the tradition of that country. The
Occident has too exclusively studied its
own cultural heritage and has considered
that of others merely where there has been
a clash of ideas. As world intercourse
increases, contacts with Indian civilizations
are bound to enlarge.

More than elsewhere, Hindu life revolves
around philosophy and religion, man’s
relations to the universe. Materialism is
held in abeyance. Systematic introspection
has been practiced in India for thousands
of years. Certain attitudes of mind and
ethical ideas are unique, one of which is
intellectual tolerance. To each person

494

India's Place in the World

only a facet of the truth is visible. We see
the universe only in terms that our minds
are capable of understanding; hence no
one is wholly right, no one wholly wrong.
Truth in its larger aspects is under-
standable only to a few individuals, and
tolerance is implicit. Indian literature is
one of the world’s oldest and richest.
Architecture and the arts date back to the
third millennium b.c. Hindu culture is
not alone, for there are 90 million Moham-
medans, 50 million of the depressed classes
and other entirely different groups.

Certain unique qualities have kept the
Indian point of view from wider acceptance
in other civilizations, in addition to its
geographic isolation. The exaltation of the
quiet life has prevented it from dealing
with obvious evils about it. Other parts
of the world have developed more active
philosophies, but in a hectic world the
west increasingly looks with tolerance and
interest upon Oriental concepts of peace.
The philosopher. Will Durant, has sum-
marized these relations as follows.

**As invention, industry and trade bind

the continents together, or as they fling us
into conflict with Asia, we shall study its
civilizations more closely, and shall absorb,
even in enmity, some of its ways and
thoughts. Perhaps, in return for conquest,
arrogance and spoliation, India will teach
us the tolerance and gentleness of the
mature mind, the quiet content of the
unacquisitive soul, the calm of the under-
standing spirit, and a unifying, pacifying
love for all living things.”^

Indian civilization is a continuous and
mature stream. The present century of
cultural change involves not the discarding
of the traditional, but rather a modifying
of the inherited to meet the needs of the
modem world. India’s culture is bound to
persist, atid we need increasingly to under-
stand the wealth of its resources. To
this task geography merely provides the
preface. 2

^ Dubant, Will, “The Story of Civilization,”
6S3.

* Brown, W. Norman, India and Humanistic . ^
Studies in America, American Council of Learned
Societies, Bulletin 28 (1939), 1-26.

Chapti^ 34

THE SOUTHEASTERN REALM

Southeastern Asia lies between India and
China, but it differs from them in climate,
topography, people, and most geographic
essentials. The realm includes two dis-
tinct geographic provinces: the peninsular
Farther India and the insular lands of the
East Indies. The name Indo-China should
not indicate any transitional or inter-
mediate character. Lyde has suggested
that the proper term would be “Indo-
Pacific'* from the adjoining oceans. The
northern part of the realm in Burma,
Thailand, and Indo-China is semicon-
tinental and predominantly Buddhist. The
southeast including peninsular Thailand,
Malaya, the Netherlands Indies, and the
Philippines is maritime, and Mohammedan
with the exception of the Philippines.

No other part of Asia has had such
divided political imperialism, with con-
tests since the sixteenth century. The
British and French have squeezed Thailand
on either side. To the south is the Dutch
Empire, while to the east lie the Philip-
pines with Spanish and American back-
grounds. This is the area which the
Japanese conquered during the Second
World War and which added so greatly
to their resources and strategic position.
Never before had it been under unified rule.

The importance of Southeastern Asia
arises both from its intrinsic assets and
from its position athwart the shipping
lanes which pass through the Strait of
Malacca at Singapore. All vessels bound
from Europe to China or Japan must pass
here. Airways equally focus on this realm.
Before the Second World War, Rangoon,

495

Bangkok, and Singapore were regular
points of call for British Overseas Airways
from London to Australia and Dutch
K.L.M. service from Amsterdam to Ba-
tavia. Air France planes from Paris to
Saigon also called at the first two cities.
Dai Nippon Airways operated to Bangkok
for at least a year prior to Pearl Harbor.
Manila and Singapore were on the Pan-
American route from San Francisco to
the Orient.

This is a tropical land, lying across the
equator and influenced by the great land
masses of Asia with its monsoons and of
desert Australia, in part by trade winds
blowing over the warm encircling seas, and
by typhoons. Winter winds blow from the
northeast, either as northeast trade winds
or as monsoon circulation which originated
in the heart of Asia. They are thus rela-
tively cool and somewhat moist. Summer
winds blow from the southwest from
May to October, or in the Southern
Hemisphere from the southeast, and bring
heavy rainfall and hufnidity. Seasons are
best defined as wet or dry rather than as
summer or winter. Much of the seasonal
variation in temperature is due to the
degree of cloudiness. Hence March, April,
and May are usually hotter than June, July,
and August. To an extent not appreciated
by dwellers outside the tropics, temperature
is influenced by elevation. Noticeably
cooler conditions prevail above two or three
thousand feet.

Rainfall is a matter of exposure and
topography, with nearly 100 inches in the
plains and even heavier precipitation on

496

The Southeastern Realm

windward slopes. Thus, Burma and the rainy season from October to January
western sides of the Malay peninsula are with the northeast monsoon and trade
dominated by the Indian Ocean southwest winds. The eastern sides of the Philippines

The geographic regions and land forms of Southeastern Asia. Political boundaries and other geographic
conditions divide the realm as follows. Burma includes the Irrawaddy Valley, the Burma Mountains, the Shan
Plateau, and the Tenasserim Coast. Thailand is divided into four regions; Central, Northern, Northeastern,
and Southern. The regions of Indo-China are the Red Plain, the Indo-China Mountains, and the Mekong Plain.
Malaya is a region by itself. The Netherlands Indies include Java and the Outer Provinces of Sumatra, Borneo,
and the other islands. Within the Philippines there are Luzon, the Visayan Islands, and Mindanao. (Base map
from Erwin Raisz^ courtesy Harvard-Y enching Institute, adapted by Rowland lUick,)

summer monsoon which brings rain from have rain throughout the year, while the
mid-May to mid-October. The eastern western sides of the islands receive most of
sides of the Thailand-Malay peninsula and their rain from summer typhoons and
the Annam coast of Indo-China have their southwest winds. Singapore near the equa-

The SouthecLstern Realm

497

tor has rain throughout the year. Java has
most of its rain from October to April with
less precipitation at the opposite season
when dry southeast trade winds blow from
Australia.

Natural vegetation closely follows rain-
fall and temperature. On well-drained soils
at low and intermediate elevations, tropical
rain forests occur where the precipitation
exceeds 80 inches. With less rain and a
seasonal dry period the dominant trees
are deciduous, a monsoon forest with teak.
Scrub growth occurs with less than 40
inches. Great plantations of rubber, cocoa-
nut, sugar cane, kapok, and cinchona (for
quinine) are locally important. The first
four require lowland positions. Coffee
and tea grow on mountain sides up to
4,000 feet, while cinchona is found at
higher elevations.

The realm as a whole is characterized
by an incomplete development of cropland.
If the natural vegetation were cleared,
drainage and irrigation arranged, public
health administered, and transportation
provided, the various lands might easily
provide a home for millions of people
on subsistence agriculture and for great
quantities of plantation crops. Whether
the world would be any better off merely
to pack this corner of Asia and the adjoining
islands with people, as in Java, is another
question. And the future market for tropical
products is also uncertain. Still other grave
problems arise in the field of political
control. Until the distant time when the
various areas can govern themselves,
separately or in some federation, a con-
siderable measure of international super-
vision will be necessary.

Most tropical soils are infertile or at best
only moderately fertile. Java is an exception ;
but it is clear that vast areas of Sumatra,
Borneo, and New Guinea never can be
productive for agriculture and that con-
siderable parts of Indo-China and Thailand

are equally hopeless. It is thus unlikely
that the realm as a whole can ever have
the population densities of India, eastern
China, or Java.

Land utilization includes forestry with
crops such as wild rubber and cocoanuts,
plantation crops of tea, coffee, rubber,
cocoanuts, oil palms, tobacco, and sugar
cane, and subsistence agriculture.

Two methods of crop production are
characteristic: wet-field rice in the plains
and migratory fire-cleared plots in the
hills. Lowland rice is generally transplanted
from seedbeds into puddled paddy fields.
It may be sown broadcast in which case
the fields are merely plowed and the seed
scattered before the land is flooded.

In the caifigin type on well-drained
upland soils, forest clearings are made by
cutting the brush and accessible branches
and girdling the trees at "the beginning
of the dry season; when these are dry,
the area is burned and the ash fertilizes
the poor tropical soil. The soil need not be
plowed; instead the seed is planted in
holes an inch deep made by a stick. After
one crop, or at most two or three, weeds
choke out planted crops and the clearing
is abandoned. The land then reverts to
forest and is not again cleared for several
years until the weeds have been killed by
shade trees. This practice is named caifigin
from its development in the Philippines;
in Thailand it is called tarn rai cultivation;
in Burma, taungya; in Assam, jhum; in
Ceylon, cheena; and in the Netherlands
Indies, ladang. At least one mountain
tribe in far northern Burma attempts
systematic reforestation of abandoned caifi-
gins. In parts of the Netherlands Indies
rubber trees are set out, but this is uncom-
mon. In many areas the fields grow up to
cogon grass rather than forest; this is
because the cogon is burned annually
and only a few dwarf trees can get started.
Once the land is covered with cogon grass.

498

The Southeastern Realm

it cannot be recultivated except by modern
plows and becomes a grassy desert or
artificial savanna.

This type of upland cultivation does not
encourage erosion. The ash provides a
temporary fertilizer on soils otherwise
unable to produce an annual crop. Neither
tools nor animals are needed, and good
crops are often raised. On the other hand,
the method requires excessive labor and
large areas per person, much valuable
timber is destroyed, and relatively useless
grasslands often result.

Geological conditions vary too widely to
offer many generalizations, but a belt of
young petroleum-rich formations extends
in a long arc from Burma south and east
through the East Indies. Outside of it is a
line of active volcanoes, while inside the
crescent are large deposits of tin, iron,
aluminum, manganese, chromium, and
other minerals.

Laterite is widely developed, the product
of long-continued leaching under stable
geological conditions on a peneplain with a
wet tropical climate. The more soluble
minerals have been removed leaving a
residue of concretionary reddish iron and
aluminum oxides. Laterite develops in the
subsoil near the fluctuating water table
and hardens into rock on exposure. It has
long been quarried for building purposes, as
shown in the ruins of ancient cities in
several areas — many of them a thousand
years old. The presence of laterite usually
means that the surface soils are very
infertile. The tectonic stability of eastern
Thailand, southern Indo-China, Borneo,
and parts of Sumatra accounts for the
abundance of laterite in these countries in
contrast to the Philippines and Java where
changes in elevation have been frequent
and erosion is accelerated.

In spite of relatively luxuriant vegeta-
tion, it is well to emphasize the sterile
character of almost all tropical soils where

formed under a continuously rainy climate
by weathering in situ. Alluvial plains
and soils in alternating wet and dry cli-
mates are more fertile. Pendleton has
pointed out that many flat areas suffer
from too little erosion to remove the
leached and worn-out surface accumula-
tion. Termite mounds are often six to
eight feet high with a diameter of 15 to
20 feet. Their better drained and more
productive soils are frequently used for
garden crops.

The continental portion in the north is
dominated by six great rivers, each flowing
from the southeastern corner of Tibet.
From west to east they are as follows:
the Irrawaddy drains central Burma and
reaches the sea near Rangoon; it is paral-
leled by the Sittang. Farther east is the
Salween whose mouth is at Moulmein.
The shorter Menam flows to the sea past
Bangkok. Part of the Thailand — Indo-
China frontier lies along the Mekong
whose mouth is near Saigon. North and
east at Haiphong is the Red River. Each
stream has its delta plain which dominates
its respective hinterland.

No part of Asia contributes more to
the export trade in raw materials. Among
metals there are tin and aluminum from
Malaya and the Netherlands Indies, man-
ganese and chromium from the Philippines
and elsewhere, tungsten from Burma,
Thailand, and Indo-China, iron ore from
Malaya and the Philippines, nickel from
Celebes and Burma, zinc and lead from
Burma, and gold from the Philippines.
In the field of fuel, coal is widespread but of
limited quantity and poor quality. This is
an important reason why practically all
of the ores, except tin and gold, are exported
from the realm without smelting. Oil
is the great source of power, with inajor
production in Sumatra and Borneo. Agri-
cultural exports are even more impressive
and include rubber from Malaya, Sumatra,

The Southeastern Realm

499

Borneo, and Thailand, cocoanut products rice surplus in Asia at Rangoon, Bangkok,
from the Philippines and the Netherlands and Saigon. Teak and other tropical
Indies, palm oil from Malaya and Sumatra, hardwoods are an increasing export. If

Southeastern Asia is extraordinarily rich in raw materials. These include the fuels coal (C) and oil (O) in
shadow letters; the minerals chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), phosphate rock (P),
sulphur (S), tin (Sn), tungsten (W), and zinc (Zn); and the agricultural products abada (Ab)t cocoanut products
(CP), palm oil (PC), rubber (Pw), and sugar (Sm).

abaca or Manila hemp from Mindanao, the market demands, the output of each
sugar from Java and Luzon, and the largest of these agricultural products can be

500

The Southeastern Realm

greatly increased. On the other hand, if
the industrial nations go in for synthetic
rubber and domestic supplies of sugar and
vegetable oils, these tropical areas must
prepare for a very uncertain future.

It is well to distinguish between native
subsistence agriculture with an exportable
surplus produced at an unknown cost and
sold at the market price, and plantation
agriculture which has a high overhead,
must pay dividends, and depends upon
special processing as in the case of sugar,
tea, or quinine. Vegetable oils and carbo-
hydrates can be produced much more
cheaply in equatorial regions than in
temperate zones.

Many different peoples have crowded
into this realm, some of them Mongoloids
from Tibet or people from China of pre-
Chinese stock, some Dravidians and Hindus
from India, others who brought Buddhism
from Ceylon, and Arabs with Moham-
medanism. Only within recent years has
the story begun to unfold. Impressive
ruins as at Angkor in Indo-China and
Borobudur in Java betray a notable
measure of civilization a thousand years

ago. Numerous races now live here, among
them Mon, Khmer, Cambodian, Annamese,
Burmese, Shan, Lao, Thai, Malay, and
the great variety of peoples in the islands.

The area and population of the various
countries are shown in the accompanying
table. Except for Java, the density is much
lower than in the adjoining lands of India,
China, and Japan. Population figures
obviously need to be interpreted in terms
of the carrying capacity of the land and
the rate of increase. These problems are
considered separately for each country.

Country

Populations in
thousands, and
year

Area in
square
miles

Density

per

square

mile

Burma

14,667 (19S1)

262,732

Thailand

14,465 (19S7)

200,000

French Indo-

China

23,030 (1936)

285,800

British Malaya.

5,174 (1937-1938)

51,200

100

Netherlands

Indies

70,476 (1940)

735,267

Java

48,416 (1940)

51,035

948

Philippine Is-

lands

16,000 (1939)

114,000

140

Chapter 35

BURMA

Although Burma might be considered a
part of the Indian Realm, its culture and
geography bear many resemblances to
Thailand and the rest of Southeastern
Asia. In place of Aryans are Mongols;
instead of Hindus the people are Buddhists.
Monsoon conditions resemble those of
India so that many of the same crops are
grown. In the absence of easy overland
access either to India or to Thailand, the
economic life of Burma moves through its
chief seaport of Rangoon. The country lies
to one side of the main routes of travel and,
in terms of modern exploitation, is an
undeveloped new land.

Since 1937 Burma has been separate
from Indian jurisdiction and is ruled
directly by the Emperor in London through
his governor and a native legislature.
It is neither a colony nor a dominion, but
rather a semiself-governing unit of the
British Empire. The area is 262,732 square
miles, but a third of this is more or less
independent under local rulers.

The population numbered about 16,000,-
000 in 1941. In 1931 it was 14,667,146, of
whom nine million were Burmese, one and
a third million Karens, one million Shans,
another million Indians, and the rest
divided among scores of racial groups,
including 200,000 Chinese. Most of these
people migrated from the north in pre-
historic times. Despite Burma’s position
between India and China, the topographic
barriers on each side are so formidable
that no military conqueror has ever passed
from one country to another, and transit
trade has been negligible. Military opera-

tions, however, have developed along the
Thai frontier.

The Burmese are an attractive people,

JFMAMJJASOND

Rangoon

Elevation, 18 feet; average temperature, 79.2**?.;
total precipitation 99.0 inches.

•

and scarcely a boy does not attend school
except in the remoter areas. Literacy is
thus far higher than elsewhere in South-
eastern Asia. The women are graceful
and well dressed, and live a free and open
life. Eighty per cent of the people are rural.
The population density is only 57 per
square mile, so that even allowing for
the large area of mountains, Burma is an
underpopulated land. One writer has de-
scribed Burma as the “happiest land in
Asia” because of this lack of population
pressure. A great variety of non-Burmese
people live in the mountains of the north

502

Burma

and east. There is a large seasonal migra- permits, rice is the preferred crop. Burma
tion of workers from Madras for work in has an annual production of some 7,000,000
the rice fields. tons, and an exportable surplus, which av-

Grain is threshed by the trampling of water buffalo and later winnowed in the wind. {Eiving Galloway.)

The southern monsoon from the Bay
of Bengal is guided by the north-south
alignment of the topography. The time of
rainfall is of great importance; heavy rains
continue from mid-May until mid-October,
while the rest of the year is dry. Where
the monsoon strikes the coastal mountains
on either side of the Irrawaddy delta, the
rainfall is 200 inches or more. Rangoon
has 99 inches. In this wet area rice is the
universal crop. In the upper valley near
Mandalay there is a region with less than
40 inches of rain and a pronounced dry
season; here the crops are millet, sesame,
peanuts, cotton, and beans.

Cultivated land is reported as 11 per cent
of the total area, and 38 per cent more
is listed as cultivable. Some 16,000,000
acres are cultivated, of which rice occupies
about 70 per cent. Only a sixteenth of the
cultivated land of Burma is planted to a
second crop. Wherever rainfall or irrigation

eraged 3,500,000 tons from 1930 to 1940.
Rangoon is one of the three great export
centers of Asia for rice. Rubber is a newer
crop, with 100,000 acres in plantations
around Mergui. Small humped oxen and
water buffalo are the usual farm animals.
Work elephants are still used, especially in
the forest industries, but the number is
declining.

A significant production of petroleum,
tin, tungsten, lead, zinc, silver, and precious
stones makes Burma an important mining
area. Oil and teak are the second and third
exports.

Irrawaddy Valley

The Irrawaddy Valley and the adjoining
Sittang lowland are the heart of Burma,
with most of the agricultural land and
population. During Tertiary times this was
an arm of the sea, in which accumulated
a great thickness of sediments, now

503

Irrawaddy Valley

veneered with the alluvium of the Irra- automobile roads across the border are
waddy and its associate the Sittang. The the famous Burma Road eastward to

Elephants are used to transport teak logs at Rangoon. {Ewing Galloway.)

region is 200 miles wide in the delta but
narrows northward till it reaches the limit
of navigation at Bhamo, 600 miles from the
sea. Between the Irrawaddy and the
Sittang lowland is the Pegu Range, which
culminates in the 5,000-foot volcano of
Mt. Popa near the northern end. The
seaward margin of the delta ends in a maze
of low islands with tidal mangrove forests
not unlike the Sundarbans of the Ganges.
Extensive dike systems are necessary in the
delta. Soils are fertile, although easily ex-
hausted, and the land is intensively utilized.
The dry region of central Burma around
Mandalay forms a separate subregion.

Although Burma has 2,000 miles of
meter-gauge railway, the Irrawaddy re-
mains the main highway. No railway leads
to the outside world, and the only two

China and one through the Shan States
into northern Thailand.

The central Irrawaddy contains impor-
tant oil wells, with production from
Oligocene formations in the Yenangyaung
and Chauk fields, 300 miles north of
Rangoon. These areas are declining in
yield, but newer fields at Singu have
maintained the production for decades
near the 1938 level of 260,000,000 gallons.
Part of the oil goes to Rangoon refineries
by pipe line; the rest is shipped on the
river. Largely undeveloped Tertiary coal
is present.

Rangoon is Burma’s one great city, with
a population in 1931 of 400,415 and a
provisional total of 498,369 in 1941.
Immigrants who were born in India made
up over half of the 1931 population, and

504

Burma

present a clash in culture. The migrant
character of Rangoon's population was
shown by the ratio of males to females

Rangoon is a city with thousands of pagodas. Here
are those around the Shwe Dagon Temple. (JEwing
Galloway.)

which was 13 to 7 in 1941. The city is
20 miles from the sea at the junction of
several streams and near a southern spur
of the Pegu Range. Rangoon does not lie
on the Irrawaddy itself but is connected
with a navigable distributary through a
canal. Rangoon handles 86 per cent of
Burma’s foreign trade. Exports are rice,
oil, teak and other timber, rice bran,
metals and ores, hides and skins, with rice
equal to the value of all others together.
Two-thirds of the rice and teak and almost
all of the petroleum go to India. Imports
are made up of cotton goods, machinery,
and miscellaneous manufactured articles.

The city lies to one side of the steamship
lanes connecting Europe with Singapore,
but it is on the main air routes between
Europe and Southeastern Asia. The chief
industries are the rice mills, and the
primary business is commerce. Bassein
is the principal port on the Irrawaddy
itself.

Mandalay in the interior dry zone is an
ancient capital city and the heart of inner
Burma. It is reached by river steamer, by
road, or by an 18-hour rail trip from
Rangoon, 386 miles to the south. The
population was 163,527 in 1941.

Burma Mountains

Between the Irrawaddy and the Brahma-
putra is a series of more or less parallel
mountain ranges, little known geologically,
wet and densely forested, and but sparsely
populated. The western area, within Assam
and Bengal, *has already been considered
under India, but two-thirds of these
mountains are in Burma. The region
includes the embayed Arakan coast and
bordering Arakan Yoma range in the south,
and the Kachin and other hills in the
north.

The Burma Mountains form an effective
barrier to travel. A few cart roads lead
over difficult passes, but there is no trade.
In structural terms, a core of old crystalline
rocks is flanked by closely folded sedi-
mentaries on either side. Elevations reach
10,085 feet in Mt. Victoria and 12,553 feet
in Mt. Sarametti on the Indo-Burma
border.

The absence of roads across the border
made it impossible to reinforce Allied
troops during the Japanese invasion and
rendered the recapture of Burma especially
difficult. British policy in India has
apparently been to isolate the country by
not developing external land communica-
tions. Burma has thus remained apart from
Indian life, except as trade moved by sea.

Shan Plateau

505

This region receives the full impact
of the southwest monsoon off the Bay
of Bengal and, where this is augmented
by orographic influences, precipitation
becomes very heavy. The Arakan coast has
a few stations that report 200 inches, but
records are not available for the mountains.
The highest precipitation is presumably at
intermediate elevations.

Natural vegetation follows climate and
altitude. Where rainfall exceeds 80 inches,
there is a dense tropical evergreen rain
forest with little agriculture or lumbering.
With 40 to 80 inches of rainfall and a
longer dry season, the trees lose their
leaves in the dry season. This is the home
of many excellent types of trees, of which
teak is the chief timber now exploited.
Burma has no natural grassland, but where
rainfall is under 40 inches the forest is
replaced by scrub. Frosts may occur above
3,000 feet in the north.

Traditional agriculture has been a matter
of clearing the forests by cutting the brush
and girdling and burning the trees. The ash
then supplies some of the much-needed
fertilization. Within a few years weeds
crowd out cultivated plants and the plot
is abandoned in favor of another. The
introduction of government forest preserves
now restricts this waste. Corn, millet, and
some rice are the crops. Large areas might
be developed, although malaria must first
be controlled.

Jade and amber are secured in limited
amounts.

The people of these mountains include a
wide variety of non-Burmese races, some
of them known as Chins and Kachins.
Considerable areas are classed as “non-
administered ” where the government does
not attempt to exercise jurisdiction. Slavery
was permitted until early in the century,
and some tribes in the far north are still
warlike.

The most developed section is the Arakan

coast, a discontinuous strip of coastal
plain and small deltas with offshore islands
and rocky peninsulas. Most of the popula-
tion live in the northern half, but the
entire coast accounts for only a million
people. No estimates are available for the
region as a whole, but the density is much
below the optimum. The Burma Mountains
are so rainy, so hilly, and so malarial that
the future is limited. Development must
await effective administration, education,
transportation, markets for lumber, and
agricultural planning.

Shan Plateau

Eastern Burma is a plateau averaging
3,000 to 4,000 feet, largely inhabited by
Shan tribesmen. It resembles western
Yunnan and northern Thailand in ethnic
diversity. The elevation moderates the
climate, so that this is a temperate land
within the tropics. Part of the country is a
dissected upland, but there are extensive
areas in which agriculture might expand.
The region is drained by the deep valley of
the Salween River and to the east by the
Mekong.

Beneath the Shan Plateau is a block of
old gneiss and ancient limestones, sharply
bounded along the Irrawaddy lowland
by a 3,000-foot fault scarp. Within this
complex is one of the world’s best sources
of lapis lazuli. Rubies have long been of
importance, with a yield of 141,490 carats
in 1937. Sapphires and jade are also
famous. Rich silver, lead, zinc, and copper
deposits are mined at Bawd win. In 1933,
lead production amounted to 72,000 tons,
enough to place Burma eighth in world
output, and silver totaled 5,000,000 ounces.
The mines at Bawd win were worked by
the Chinese in the fourteenth century and
are one of the richest deposits of their type
in the world. Only rock with over 20 per
cent lead and zinc combined is now con-
sidered as ore.

506

Burma

Two railroads climb onto the Shan
Plateau, the meter-gauge lines to Shwen-
yaung and the important line to Lashio.
At the turn of the century, British and
French interests were both seeking a rail
route into southwestern China. The French
line from Indo-China to Yimnan was
completed first, but on account of the
formidable character of the topography
on the Burma frontier the British railway
was not continued beyond Lashio. With
the blockade of the China coast during the
Second World War, China opened in 1939
a spectacular automobile route from Kun-
ming in Yunnan to Burma, with twin
terminals at the railhead of Lashio and at
Bhamo on the navigable Irrawaddy. This
new back door to China will be of increasing
imj>ortance in peacetime trade with Europe.

Tenasserim Coast

Burma projects 500 miles southward
along the Malay peninsula in a strip

averaging but 50 miles in width. This is
the Tenasserim Coast, comparable to the .
Arakan lowland and mountains in both
configuration and monsoon rainfall. The
one city of importance is Moulmein in the
north, where the Salween delta is virtually
a continuation of the Irrawaddy delta
lands. Elsewhere mountains prevail. The
north-south alignment of the topography
is shown in the course of the Tenasserim
River which follows a valley within 20 to
40 miles of the sea for 150 miles.

Tungsten and tin are important, with
production at Mergui and Tavoy. Tungsten
production began in 1910 and for a few
years prior to the First World War, Burma
led the world, but since then has con-
sistently been second to China. The tin
output amounted to 6,623 tons in 1937.
The long wet season with 200 inches of
rain is favorable for rubber and cocoanut
plantations.

Chapter 36
THAILAND

Thailand was the only independent
kingdom in Southeastern Asia never
conquered until its submission to the
Japanese in 1941. The country has well
been called a buffer state, for in 1896
France and Britain agreed by treaty to
preserve it as an independent nation
between their expanding territories in
Burma and Indo-China. The country was
known as Siam until 1939 when the name
was changed to Thailand, land of the
Thai (free) people.

Foreign pressure by Britain and France
has several times changed the boundaries,
particularly in the east next to Indo-
China and in the South next to Malaya.
In 1941 Thailand regained part of Cam-
bodia and part of the right bank of the
Mekong which were lost in 1907. This area
covered 21,000 square miles with a popula-
tion of over 1,000,000. In 1943, Japan
returned the lost areas in Malaya.

Little is known about the early dwellers
of Thailand, but they appear to have been
Negritos who were later driven out by
successive waves of Mongoloid people who
made their way down the river valleys
from the north and west. Their descendants
are now the Mon, Cambodians, and
Annamese. Still later, but before the
Christian era, another population wave of
Tibeto-Burman people moved south along
the Irrawaddy and entered Thailand.
Peoples and cultures of India came in the
sixth century, both directly and via
Sumatra and Java. Another group of
immigrants from the Yangtze Valley were
the Lao-Tai who arrived in strength after

their defeat by Kublai Khan in the
thirteenth century. Their principal de-
scendants are the present-day Thai.

Although the Thai are the chief in-
habitants, the Chinese population is also
considerable with some 800,000 who are
still Chinese citizens and over 2,000,000
with some degree of Chinese parentage.
Much of the retail and import and export
business is in Chinese hands; no other group
is willing to work so hard for so little remun-
eration. Chinese shops are found even in
small remote villages. Serious racial an-
tagonisms have developed on several
occasions.

The country has an area of 200,198
square miles and a population that num-
bered 14,464,489 in 1937. This is an average
density of 72 per square mile but the
distribution varies widely, with many of
the people concentrated in the plains
around Bangkok. One province in the north
has but 13 persons per square mile while a
southern province counts 362. Seventy
per cent of the population live in agri-
cultural villages. Only in a few mountain
valleys of the north is there any serious
pressure of the people on the land. This
situation is reflected in the availability of
surplus rice for export.

Mountains close off Thailand on the
west, north, and northeast; to the east
the boundary is chiefly along the Mekong
River. Only one major stream is entirely
within the country, the so-called Menam.
Actually the name is Menam Chao Bhraya
(or Phya), and menam simply means river.
To the west is the shorter Meklohng, while

Thailand

508

the northeast is drained by tributaries of Alluvial plains are limited to the vicinity
the Mekong. of the three rivers. Around Bangkok the

The mountains of Thailand are a con- Menam-Meklohng lowland has a maximum

Siamese architecture is typified by this Buddhist temple at Chiengmai. (Courtesy Presbyterian Board of Foreign

Missions,)

tinuation of the complex that extends
southward from the corner of Tibet
through western Yunnan and Burma.
Farther south these form the backbone of
the Malay Peninsula. A few peaks reach
8,000 feet in northern Thailand, but
elevations are under a mile in most sec-
tions. The north is a country of parallel
ridges and valleys, all trending north and
south. The limestone mountains rise ab-
ruptly from the valley floors, but others
usually have lower foothills and inter-
mediate slopes. The northern boundary
with Burma lies along the Tanen Taung
Gyi Range; farther south and extending
down the peninsula this is known as the
Tenasserim Range. The northeastern part
of the country is enclosed on the west and
south by low linear mountains which meet
at a right angle near the town of Korat.
Together these mountainous sections cover
about one-third of Thailand.

width of 175 miles and extends upriver
some 250 miles. A narrow belt of alluvium
follows the Nam Mun in the northeast,
while east central Thailand extends into
the low plains of Cambodia.

Most of the remainder of the country
consists of rolling hills, chiefly old pene-
plains. The most important of these areas
is the Korat Plateau in the northeast.
This is a slightly dissected area with an
elevation of only a few hundred feet,
underlain by horizontal red sandstones
and other sedimentary rocks of Triassic
age. Soils of low productivity limit the
population.

Most of the central part of Thailanc
has been geologically stable for a consider
able period, so that erosion is normal
Thick alluvial deposits obscure the under
lying rocks, which include Pre-Cambrian
and Carboniferous to Pleistocene. Igneou
intrusions are widespread in the westeri

Thailand

509

mountains. Granite batholiths form the
core of all the main mountains.

The climate over most of Thailand may
be divided into two seasons. The rainy
period occurs during the southwest mon-
soon from the end of April until late in
October; the dry winter season wind from
the northeast lasts from November until
mid-February and is followed by the
hottest weather.

This has been called a monsoon climate,
but such a classification is an oversimpli-
fication. The migration of the heat equator
north and south across Thailand twice
annually means the passage of the doldrum
belt, with its quiet air and the sky full of
magnificent cumulus clouds, often thunder-
heads. Thus, much of the rainfall is in
localized thundershowers. The northeast
and southeast trade winds, which theo-
retically blow on opposite sides of the
doldrums, are considerably modified by
the monsoonal conditions in the west.
Local land and sea breezes are often mis-
taken for ** monsoon” winds. Occasionally
a typhoon will come directly across the
South China Sea; fading out over Thailand,
such depressions bring general rain over
wide areas. For a week or so, between
November and February, north winds from
a high pressure area over Asia accompany
an overcast sky and bring markedly lower
temperatures in interior Thailand.

Temperatures in Thailand are moderate
to high. The prevailing seasonal tempera-
tures, particularly in the central portion,
are determined largely by the degree of
cloudiness, or its absence. Thus it is that
the season of highest temperatures is in
late March, April, and early May. Once
the rains are well started, i.e., once the
sky is overcast much of the time, tempera-
tures are considerably lower. On the other
hand, because of the high humidity, bright
sunny days after local showers seem very
hot. In central, peninsular, and south-

eastern Thailand maximum temperatures
seldom reach 100®F., while minimum
temperatures are seldom lower than 65®F.

Because of the greater distance from the
sea, the increased elevation of the interior
valleys, and the mountains which cut off
much of the wind, the range of tempera-
tures is much greater in northern Thailand.
Houses have fireplaces for warmth which
are used nightly much of the winter,
and warm clothing is desirable. Only
on the highest mountains have frosts been
reported.

The total annual rainfall in Thailand
varies from about 30 to 120 inches. In
southern peninsular Thailand there is
seldom a long dry season. In this area the
monsoon winds from the Bay of Bengal
bring heavy rains to the western coast and
slopes during the months of May to
September. The eastern coast of the
peninsula receives most of its rain between
October and January from the northeast
trade winds which sweep in off the South
China Sea and the Gulf of Siam. The rain-
fall quantities and regime in southeastern
Thailand much resemble those of western
peninsular Thailand.

Much of the rain which falls in central
Thailand is from convectional showers and
from squalls from the southwest. The
average rainfall in this plain is about
40 inches. Around Bangkok gentle sea
breezes are frequent during the summer
months. During the almost rainless winter
months northeast breezes are common.
Both in the western part of the central
plain and in western Korat there are very
pronounced rain shadows, with inadequate
moisture for the growth of rice.

Since ancient times the civilization of the
country has been founded on rice. It now
supports nine-tenths of the people, either
with its production, milling, or export. The
crop acreage amounts to 95 per cent of all
planted land. Although Thailand produces

510

Thailand

but 5 per cent of the world’s rice, it is the
third largest exporter. One-third or more
of the crop is shipped, and this accounts
for 70 per cent of the nation’s foreign
income. The principal customer before
1914 was Europe. Since then the market
has been China, Singapore, India, and
Cuba. Farming methods are still primitive,
but mechanical pumps have been intro-
duced under cooperative credit arrange-
ments. Lowland rice requires a constant
supply of water, and many areas lack
adequate amounts of summer rainfall in
dry years. At times half the crop may be
ruined by too much or too little water;
even so, famine is rare. Only one crop is
raised a year, except in the Chiengmai
Valley. The agricultural unsuitability of
much of the land is unfortunate. Thailand
has overspecialized on rice and depends on
a fluctuating market. It must import cotton
and other needs, a large part of which
might be grown locally.

Other crops hold a decidedly inferior
position, for they occupy but 500,000 acres
of which rubber and cocoanuts account for

300,000 and 127,000 acres, respectively.
Tobacco, cotton, corn, and beans are the
chief upland or unirrigated field crops.

Cultivated land is estimated at 12,355,000
acres, or 10 per cent of the total area. Even
in the delta around Bangkok only 40 per
cent is utilized, so that expansion is
probably possible, particularly for dry
crops. Farms average four acres, but there
are wide regional differences. The economic
status of the individual farmer is compli-
cated by large debt, tenancy, and market-
ing problems. Water buffaloes are the
principal draft animals in the wet rice areas,
with considerable numbers of bullocks in
the drier farm areas. Work elephants are
employed in the teak forests and in the Kra
Isthmus.

Forest resources are still large although
the valuable teak forests have been con-
siderably exploited. Seventy per cent of

the country is covered by some type of
forest, much of it very slow-growing
hardwood types.

Tin comes between rice and rubber as
Thailand’s second export resource. The
production is from the peninsula and
amounted to 16,998 tons in 1939, 9 per
cent of the world total. Many types of
mining are employed, from primitive shaft
mines to hydraulic mining and the use
of enormous dredges. Tungsten is also
produced.

The scarcity of fuel is a major obstacle
to industrialization. There is no petroleum
and such coal as exists is lignite. Rice
husks are a common fuel for power plants
in Bangkok.

One of the nation’s international assets
is that she owns the narrowest part of the
Malay Peninsula at the Kra Isthmus. The
possibility of constructing a canal at this
point has been discussed for a century by
rival British, French, and Japanese inter-
ests. Such a waterway would reduce the
journey between Europe and East Asia by
600 miles and end the dominance of
Singapore. The engineering problems would
involve the use of winding rivers with steep
banks, and cutting through a 250-foot ridge.

The railways are of meter gauge and
radiate from Bangkok. One line leads west
and south to Singapore, one line extends
eastward to form a link with Indo-China, a
bifurcated branch penetrates the northeast,
and another runs north with a road con-
nection into Burma. The railways total
about 2,000 miles, but there are only

1.000 miles of paved highways.

Within Thailand are four geographic
regions, conventionally named Central,
Northern, Northeastern, and Southern.

Central Thailand

Central Thailand is the heart of the
country, with the bulk of the people and
the best riceland. It has been described as

68.000 square miles of almost unbroken

Central Thailand 511

monotonous scenery.^ Through the middle approximately 11 acres, twice that of any
extends the Menam-Meklohng plain. The other region. Annual floods cause many
rainfall varies from 30 to 60 inches and is of the people near th p> waterways to live in

Many farmers along the Menam River above Bangkok build their homes on high stilts for protection against
hood. {Burton Holmes^ from Ewing Qalloway.)

^vell distributed during the rice season.
Only 15 per cent of the region is cultivated,
jf which wet rice occupies 75 per cent.
^Nevertheless this region accounts for more
:han half of the country’s total cultivated
irea. Much of this is sown broadcast after
flowing the moist soil rather than trans-
flanted into paddies from seedbeds. With
he progress of the rainy season the fields
)ecome deeply flooded, often as much as
0 or 12 feet; this rice is called '‘floating
ice.” The utilized land per farm family is

^ The areas for the four regions are those of Zim-
lerman for the Iknd surface alone. These add up to
93,000 square miles rather than the usual total of
00,198 square miles for the country as a whole.

compact villages along the natural levees.
The rivers and canals are almost the only
means of communication across the plain.
Practically all houses in rural Thailand are
elevated on poles. Considerable areas
which are not easily flooded are left in wild
jungle. Bullock carts are used in the dry
season across areas where one must travel
by boat during the rains.

Boats on the rivers and canals are the
principal means of transportation in the
Bangkok plain. Many houses float on
pontoons along the river banks. It is only
within the past decade that any highways
have led out from Bangkok, even to the
international airport about 20 miles distant.

Thailand

Highway development in the Bangkok
plain has been greatly retarded not only by
the heavy day soil, flooded for many
months annually for rice gr&wing, and the
numerous rivers and canals which have to
be bridged, but by the absence of suitable
surfacing materials near by and a reluctance
to facilitate further competition with the
state-owned railways.

Such a large portion of the Bangkok
plain is now used to produce rice that most
of the natural vegetation has been com-
pletely altered. Judging by the magnificent
groups of towering yang (dipterocarp)
trees growing about some of the older
Buddhist temples along the river banks and
a few relics of similar forests near the head
of the plain, such forests probably lined
the river banks for much of the distance
through this plain. Nearer the sea, where
the land is lower and brackish water comes
in with the tides, mangroves are important.
Back from the river channels grasses so
tall that “even a man on elephant back
could not see out over them,** comprised
the principal type of vegetation. The lower
slopes of the hills around the plain are
still covered with forest which varies
from a relatively luxuriant rain forest to
low, open hardwood forests, depending
upon the soil and rainfall conditions of the
locality. Since almost all of the rain falls
during the southwest monsoon period,
between June and October, there are
striking differences in the vegetation be-
tween that in the dry rain shadow along
the western side of the valley and that in
the especially heavy rain area near the
mountains along the border of the Korat
Plateau.

Toward the southeast and southwest,
hills introduce a different landscape, with
more forest and less rice. The hills to the
east have heavy rainfall, but those to the
west lie in a rain shadow and are drier
than the plain.

Bangkok is Thailand*s one important

city, with a population of over 800,000.
The city lies 15 miles from the sea on the
Menam Chao Bhraya in the midst of a
tidal flat intersected with numerous canals.
The old port extends along the river and
near it are the larger commercial establish-
ments; the new port is some miles below
the city. Since there is a troublesome bar
with a normal depth of 13 feet at the
mouth of the river, larger steamers anchor
outside and transfer their cargo to lighters.
The bar is being dredged to 26 feet. About
a thousand steamers call each year. The
modern city is laid out along spacious
lines, with western buildings and innumer-
able Buddhist temples in Siamese archi-
tecture; elsewhere there are narrow streets
with the shops of Chinese traders. The
royal palace and associated buildings are in
strikingly beautiful Thai architecture, with
brilliantly colored tile roofs. Rice milling,
teak sawmills, cement works, and match
factories are the chief industries.

Northern Thailand

Northern Thailand is a mountainous
area between the Salween and the Mekong.
Half a dozen streams, tributaries of the
latter or of the Menam, follow parallel
courses through north-south valleys which
lie at elevations of about 1,000 feet.
Mountains rise steeply to heights of over
a mile. Many of the rivers are graded, and
have developed open valleys where rice is
grown; elsewhere cultivation is of the
migratory hillside type. In parts of the
Chiengmai Valley where irrigation water is
available, two crops of rice are raised.
Cotton, tobacco, and opium are specialized
crops.

The long dry season and the relatively
low rainfall, little more than 35 inches
annually, have been important factors
in the development of the native vegeta-
tion. The most important forest types are
(1) the more or less deciduous “monsoon**
forests, of which teak is a component if

Northeastern Thailand

the soils are sufficiently good; (2) the
evergreen forests, more on the northern
slopes and at higher elevations; (3) on the
highest ridges and peaks, the limited
forests in which pine and dwarf oaks are
conspicuous; and (4) on intermediate slopes
on poor sandy soils, some development
of the low, slow-growing, relatively open
forests so much more extensively developed
in the Korat region.

This region covers 35,000 square miles,
and has 16 per cent of the total population
outside Bangkok. Only 7 per cent is in
cultivation. Many of the hill tribes are
Shans or other non-Thai people.

Teak is the distinctive export, but the
quality is not quite so good as in Burma.

The principal city is Chiengmai (Jieng
Hmai) at the rail head, 410 miles or 20
hours north from Bangkok.

Northeastern Thailand

The landscape of the Northeast has three
components: extensive open forests which
near the villages grade into dry scrub
jungles growing on soils often too infertile
to be cultivated; alluvial lowlands with
small diked rice fields; and grassy plains too
deeply flooded after the rains and too dry
* at other seasons to be used for crops. This
is a flat to rolling region where erosion is
so slight that the thoroughly leached soils
have not been eroded, hence their content
of plant foods is low. Some areas of less
infertile soil have a denser and better
forest, often utilized for migratory caiflgin
agriculture.

This region is known as the Korat
Plateau, from the name of the chief town.
It lies east and north of the low Dong Phya
Yen Mountains which rise abruptly from
Central Thailand to heights of 5,000 feet.
The region as a whole is underlain by hori-
zontal sandstones and shales, purplish red
in color. The mountains represent igneous
uplifts. Elevations in the Korat Plateau
are under 600 feet, decreasing to the south-

513

east. The Korat Plateau is drained by
tributaries of the Mekong, the Lam Moon
(Nam Mun) and Lam Chi.

Northern Thailand has many of the same tribes-
people who live in eastern Burma and southwestern
China. These are Kaws. {Henry 0*Brien^ courtesy
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.)

The climate reflects the interior location,
with greater seasonal variations than at
Bangkok. Rainfall is erratic in time and
uncertain in distribution, and the underly-
ing sandstones are very permeable; agri-
culture is thus handicapped. Rice occupies
99 per cent of the cropped area, but there
is only a small surplus for export. Cattle
and pigs are also shipped out of the region.
Their presence accounts for the superior
fertility of the soil near the villages. Small
plots of tobacco, mulberry, and cotton
are grown by many farmers. On account
of rapids in the Mekong, trade flows to
Bangkok.

Northeastern Thailand covers 62,000
square miles and has a population of some

514

Thailand

5,000,000. Seven per cent of the land is
under cultivation, which accounts for
22 per cent of the country’s cropland.

Southern Thailand

Southern Thailand lies in the long Malay
Peninsula. The region is nowhere more
than 70 miles wide and, in places where it
borders Burma, only 10 miles in width.
This is an attractive region with palm-lined
beaches, beautiful offshore islands, and
verdure-clad mountains. In the south the
people are of Malay types, Mohammedan
in religion. The area is 28,000 square miles.
Seven per cent is cultivated, with four acres
per farm family. Elevations reach 4,520
feet but are under 3,000 feet in most areas.

Proximity to the sea makes the climate
delightful, without excessive temperatures.
The western side of the peninsula has its
rainiest season between May and October,
while the eastern is wettest from October
to February. As a result of this exposure to
both monsoons, there are about 100 inches
of rainfall and high humidity. Tempera-
tures are moderated by the sea.

From the latitude of Bangkok south to
the isthmus of Kra the international
boundary between Burma and Thailand
follows the crest of the mountains. The
isthmus of Kra is a relatively low pass
between the Gulf of Siam and the Indian
Ocean. South of this locality and on most
of the way to Singapore, the higher moun-
tains are en Schelon, Between the many
more or less separated ranges there are a
number of relatively low and wide valleys,
through which pass railways and highways
that make easy the crossing of the penin-
sula. Some of the river valleys are quite
well developed, with considerable areas of
lowland plain. There are also coastal
plains which have been formed more by
degradation than from alluvial deposits.
Notable monadnocks are the towering
and sometimes fantastically shaped lime-

stone bluffs which stand isolated in the
plains, as islands off the coast, or in inland
lakes. These hills are important because
of the phosphatic bat guano found in the
caves, and as the nesting place for the
birds which build the edible nests.

The granitic batholiths which form the
cores of the main mountain ranges in
peninsular Thailand are for the most part*
tin-bearing. The very deep weathering and
the subsequent erosion of the overlying
rocks and of the granites themselves have
liberated the tin ore which is mined on an
extensive scale by placer, hydraulic, shaft,
and dredger methods.

The natural vegetation of the region
may be divided as follows: (1) tropical
rain forest; (2) evergreen forests on less
rainy mountain slopes; (3) mangrove
swamps, especially in the muddy estuaries
along the seacoasts; (4) grassy plains here
and there at low elevations; and (5) fresh-
water swamps. In the extreme northern
part of the region is an extension of
vegetation types from dry western Central
Thailand. These are (6a) bamboo thorn
scrub in the drier rain-shadow region and
(66) dwarf open hardwood forests on poor
sandy soils on the lower slopes of the
mountains, west of the thorn scrub.

As in all other regions of Thailand, rice
is the most important and most generally
raised crop. But there is relatively less of
it produced than in other regions, for many
of the people here have other and easier
ways to make a living. At times rice is
even imported. Hevea rubber is produced
in great quantities; a considerable part of
it by natives who have only small plots.
Tin-mining companies employ large num-
bers of laborers, and there are also indi-
viduals who wash tin on their own in the
rivers. The long coast line provides ample
opportunity for fishing; in normal times
the export of salt fish to Singapore is
considerable.

Chapter 37
INDO-CHINA

Indo-China, officially written as French dates from the seventeenth century but
Indochine, is the largest and most populous political control is the result of wars and
of the continental countries in South- negotiations between 1858 and 1907. Sev-
eastem Asia. Most of the people and eral areas are still protectorates rather
agriculture are in the fertile deltas of the than fully colonial. Indo-China has been
Mekong in the south and the Red River the most prosperous and most populous of
in the north; between them is a moun- all French colonies. The position of the
tainous backbone with only scattered French in this part of the world differs
settlements along the coast and the valley in its recency from the British or Dutch,
of the Mekong in the west. Its shape may each of whom has a long tradition of
be likened to a coolie carrying pole with a political relations with its subjects. The
basket of rice hung at either end. Sharp development of colonial self-government
contrasts characterize the mountains and has no place in French policy,
plains, and the north versus the south. In 1941 as the result of a Japanese-

Five political units make up French instigated war with Thailand, Indo-China
Indo-China, each with its geographic ceded 21,750 square miles to Thailand,
personality. Tonkin next to China in the largely in western Cambodia with addi-
north is drained by the Red River. Hanoi tional area in Laos,
is its capital and also the administrative Indo-China shows wide differences in
center for the entire country; Haiphong the character and distribution of her people,
is the principal seaport. Annam includes a In the Tonkin Delta there are 1,500 people
long strip of mountains and isolated coastal per square mile, the small scattered plains
plains. Its capital is Hu6. To the west is of Annam average 550, central Cochin-
Laos in the mountains and the central China has about 875, while in the lake
hill country of the Mekong with the capital region of Cambodia there are but 175
in Vientiane. Cochin-China occupies the people per square mile. So inhospitable is
lower Mekong and is dominated by its much of the country that in an area of
capital city of Saigon. Cambodia covers 230,000 square miles, out of 285,800, the
the broad plain of the central Mekong, density is only sonje 15 per square mile,
under the administration of Pnom-Penh. Population congestion is particularly acute
The combined area of French Indo-China in the Tonkin Delta where some districts
is 285,800 square miles, larger than Texas, report as many as 6,000 rural people per
and in 1986 the population was 23,030,000. square mile of rice fields. More than 90
Chinese numbered 326,000, and Europeans per cent of the people in the country are
but 43,000. rural.

Much of the country was under Chinese Annamese are the most numerous of the
rule from 213 b.c. to a.d. 9.31, and many various peoples, since they comprise about
cultural traits survive. French penetration 70 per cent of the total. They live from the

515

516

Indo-China

far north of Tonkin to the far south of from northwest to southeast. Along the
Cochin-China. They have copied the Chinese frontier adjoining Kwangsi and
Chinese in their customs, arts, political Yunnan are the mountains of northern

A native meal in Safgon. with food and utensils that reflect strong Chinese influences. {Ewing Galloway.)

orgamzation, religion, literature, and writ- Tonkin. They are carved from great masses
ing. Cambodians, the second group with of limestone and have steep-walled canyons
6 per cent, have an Indian background and spires which terminate in a series of
in their culture and language but are islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. The highest
Buddhist in religion, and have many peak is 7,879 feet. The Annam Cordillera
similarities to the Thai. The Cambodians consists of a series of ranges and half a
are the descendants of the Khmers whose dozen plateaus which reach from one
brilliant and artistic civilization reached its comer of the country to another. Elevations
zenith about eight centuries ago. Thai rise to 10,806 feet. The widest developments
people occupy the mountains of Laos and of the system are in the north and the
Tonkin, and share the area with numerous south. Almost everywhere the mountains
other primitive tribes. handicap communications between the

Mountains cover more than half of Indo- hill country near the Mekong and the coast.
China, with three systems each trending The mountains of southwestern Cambodia

Indo^China

517

rise to 4,149 feet but are of limited
extent.

There are two types of plains : those along
the coast and those in the interior. The
latter lie entirely along the Mekong,
partly in Laos but largely in central
Cambodia in the area around the Tonle
Sap. This basin becomes a vast lake after
the rains when the Mekong is high and
backs up into the lake. In the dry season it
shrinks to a third of its maximum size.
Fishing is very important here. In Tonkin
is the* delta of the Red River (Song-koi)
and its tributary the Black (Song-bo),
with an area of 5,400 square miles. The
course of the Red is so straight that it
must have tectonic control. Since Hanoi
at the head of the delta has an elevation of
only 15 feet and the flood crest may reach
35 feet, dikes are necessary to protect
much of the lowland. The coast of Annam
has a series of small deltas and coastal
plains, separated from one another where
the mountains reach the sea. Their com-
bined area is about 7,700 square miles.
Much of the shore line is inhospitable and
without shelter; an important exception
is the magnificent harbor of Cam Ranh
Bay, a partly developed naval base near
the extreme east. The delta of the Mekong
begins at Pnom Penh where the river
divides into distributaries. Most of it lies
in Cochin-China, but it reaches into
Cambodia. The area of the delta is roughly
26,000 square miles. So much sediment is
brought into the sea that the coast line to
the south is advancing as much as 250 feet
per year. This plain is the largest in Indo-
China.

Almost all of Indo-China is within the
tropics, so that lowland temperatures and
humidity are always high. Two major
climatic provinces are formed by the
Annam Cordillera which lies at right angles
to the seasonal winds. To the west there
is the monsoon regime from the Indian

Ocean with summer rain from May to
October, modified by occasional typhoons
from the China Sea. Areas in the lee of

JFMAMJJASOND

SaYoon

mountains tend to be drier. In Safgon April
is the warmest month, 86°F., and December
the coolest, 80°F. Rainfall amounts to 78
inches, with September as the wettest
month, 14 inches, and February the driest,
0.1 inch. Some mountain stations report
220 inches.

Eastern Indo-China has an opposite
regime, dominated by the South China
Sea. In the southern half, the rainy season
occurs with typhoons and the northeast
monsoon in the fall, from September to
January. Tonkin has its distinctive climate,
related to relief and location, with cooler
weather and only a brief dry period.
Monthly average temperatures everywhere
exceed 63®F. Wide fluctuations in rainfall
occur from year to year, often in a ratio
of 2:1. Agriculture is affected accordingly.
These are in part related to typhoons which
strike all sections of the east coast but
especially north of Hu6. May to December
are the most common months. In addition
to destructive winds, typhoons may bring
as much as 25 inches of rain in 24 hours.

Indo-China is a land of primary produc-
tion, from fields and mines, similar to the

518

Indo-China

other lands of the peninsula. Intensive Coal output in 1937 amounted to 2,308»000
small-scale rice culture stands in contrast metric tons. Other metals include tin,
to modem plantations of rubber, tea, zinc, tungsten, chromium, antimony, iron,

Saigon is one of the finest cities of Southeastern Asia. This is one of the principal business streets. {De CoUyfrom

Eidng Oallotoay.)

and coffee. Cultivated land occupies about
13 per cent of the cotmtry, almost entirely
in the plains. Rice accounts for two-
thirds of the nation’s export, much of it
consigned to China. France also bought
rice. Tonkin is so densely populated that
there is no export surplus. In contrast, the
Mekong Valley ships in large amounts from
Saigon. The yield is the lowest per acre
of any country in Eastern Asia, a result
of insufficient fertilization and primitive
methods.

Mining is concentrated in the north.
Excellent coal, much of it anthracite, is
obtained near Honggay east of Haiphong.

and manganese. Phosphate rock is mined
in the south. The reserves are extensive
and a considerable increase in production
is possible. At present most minerals are
exported. Hydroelectric power is also
available. Indo-China has the basic raw
materials of heavy industry in abundance
and can also supply textile fibers, rubber,
vegetable oils, timber, and other require-
ments for light industry. Of all the lands
of Southeastern Asia and of all French
colonies anywhere, Indo-China is best
endowed for industrial developments. Mod-
ern industry is now limited to rice milling,
textiles, sugar production, public utilities

Indo-China

619

in the few cities, and railway shops. Delta with which it is connected by a canal
French capital has been interested in the known as L’ Arroyo Chinois. The city
production of raw materials for export, resembles a French provincial town. Bor-

The temples of Angkor are the finest examples of ancient architecture in Southeastern Asia. In the foreground
is a modern village occupied by the temple priests. {Ewing Galloway.)

especially to France, rather than the dering Saigon is its twin industrial city
development of large-scale industry within of Cholon. The 1931 census credits Saigon
the colony. with 123,298, of whom 11,115 were Euro-

A railway follows along the coast from peans. Cholon then had 134,060 people, half
north to south, with two lines to the of them Chinese. French steamship lines
Chinese frontier in the north, one of which make the run to Marseilles in 25 days,
continues to Kunming. A newly construct- Hanoi and Haiphong in the north are
ed railway in the southwest connects each cities of over 100,000, which is also
Pnom Penh with Thailand. There is con- the population of Pnom Penh,
siderable navigation on the lower 350 miles The most remarkable architectural ruins
of the Mekong but rapids on the central of Southeastern Asia are those at Angkor
river handicap traffic. The Red River in Cambodia. This ruined city once rivaled
is navigable for 275 miles. Rome or Carthage. Most of the temples and

Saigon is the premier city. It lies 40 miles palaces were built of laterite faced with
from the sea on the narrow and winding sandstone and are still well preserved.
Donai River, just to one side of the Mekong These ruins were lost in the jungle until

520

Indo-China

discovered in 1858. They represent the
climax of Khmer civilization 800 years ago.
The chief temple area is a step pyramid
rising to five towers, 213 feet in height.

Three geographic regions stand out;
the Red Plain, the Indo-China Mountains,
and the Mekong Plain. The first and last
are delta ricelands with intensive utiliza-

tion; the second is a wilderness of forest
where cultivated land is limited to frag-
ments of coastal plain, rough country
along the central Mekong, or plateau
remnants. In these mountains stock raising
and European plantations of rubber are
of increasing importance. Many of the
people are backward.

Chapter 38

MALAYA

Rubber, tin, and Singapore describe
British Malaya. This southernmost tip of
Asia has an importance out of all proportion
to its area or population. It is one of
the most advanced agricultural lands of
the Orient, largely owing to the initiative
of commercial plantations. Foreign invest-
ments in rubber plantations alone amount
to $275,000,000. The export of rubber
and tin became so profitable and wages
paid to workers on plantations and in
mines were so high that domestic food
production has been neglected and two-
thirds of the requirements were imported.

The British Empire has been fortunate
in having men of great vision, among them
Sir Stanford RaflSes, who foresaw the
strategic importance of the Strait of
Malacca and secured Singapore for Eng-
land in 1819. Through the strait passes
all the shipping between Europe or India
and Eastern Asia, so that Singapore is
one of the world’s busiest ports of call
and the logical center for the collection,
grading, and export of many tropical
products such as rattan, rubber, spices,
gums, and resins.

In common with many other British
areas, the political structure is complex.
The four Federated Malay States of Perak,
Pahang, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan
are governed by native rajahs under a
British High Commissioner. The five Non-
federated Malay States are protectorates:
Johore in the south since 1885, Perlis,
Kedah, Kelantun, and Trengganu to the
north since 1909 when they were obtained
from Thailand. During Japanese occupa-

tion in 1943, the last four were returned to
Thailand, The Straits Settlements are
crown colonies: Penang, Wellesley, and

JFMAMJJASQND

Singapore

f Elevation, 10 feet; average temperature, 80.1®F.;
total precipitation, 92.9 inches.

Bindings in the north, Malacca and
Singapore in the south, as well as some
outlying islands. British North Borneo,
Brunei, and Sarawak are also related to
British Malaya.

Singapore lies 75 miles north of the
equator, but the climate of the peninsula
is moderated by the surrounding seas.
Daytime temperatures seldom exceed 88°F.
and may drop as low as 70°F. at night
Rain amounts to nearly 100 inches a year
at most lowland stations, or double that
amount in the hills, and falls on 200 days.
Relative humidity is always uncomfortably
high, seldom below 75 per cent during the
day and frequently over 90 per cent at
night. Actual rainfall departs widely from
the average. The doldrums or intertropical
front moves north and south with the sun
and brings large cumulus clouds and

522 Malaya

showery weather, especially in the early to 1,080 people per square mile. Malays
afternoon. The northeast winds prevail and Chinese each account for over 40 per
during December, January, February, and cent of the population, followed by Indians

A rubber plantation in the Straits Settlement north of Singapore. Sap is gathered as shown in the foreground.

{Ewing Galloway.)

March, and southeasterly trades from May
through September. It is not correct to
speak of these seasonal shifts as monsoonal.
No typhoons touch Singapore.

Malaya is mountainous, with a frame-
work of north-south ranges en Echelon.
Elevations reach 7,186 feet, but much of
the peninsula is a low-lying plain from
which mountains and hills rise abruptly.
Dense rain forest covers the mountains and
uncleared lowlands of the interior. Man-
grove swamps occupy extensive mud flats
particularly along the western coast.

The population in 1937-1938 amounted
to 5,174,000 in an area of 50,880 square
miles, so that the average density was
100. In the Straits Settlements this rises

at 15 per cent. Most of the Malays are still
conservative rice farmers although many
also have small rubber groves, while the
Chinese and Indians work for wages in
rubber and tin. In most cities the Chinese
outnumber all other races together and
include many people of considerable wealth.
The entire European population in 1938
was but 24,000, including plantation and
mine managers, merchants, professional
men, and officials.

Rubber outranks tin as Malaya’s most
important product. Out of a total crop
area of 5,074,000 acres in 1939, or 13 per
cent of the entire country, rubber planta-
tions accounted for 3,442,649 or 65 per
cent, rice fields covered 14 per cent, and

Malaya

cocoanuts 12 per cent. Since the rubber has
been exported at widely fluctuating market
prices, the economic life of the colony has
been subject to extremes. Prior to the
Second World War, Malaya produced 38
to 54 per cent of the total supply, but as
late as 1905 the plantation production was
only 150 tons.

Low prices led to the Stevenson control
plan in 1922 which raised prices from $0.29
to $1.23 per pound, in comparison with
production costs of $0.19. The resulting
high prices stimulated planting in the
Netherlands Indies and elsewhere, and the
plan was abandoned in 1928. Rubber
dropped to $0.03 per pound in 1933,
and a new agreement, this time inter-
national, again attempted to control pro-
duction and prices. The maximum output
in Malaya came in 1930 to 1934 and aver-
aged 436,516 long tons. In 1939 the figure
was 376,755 tons. By 1937 the annual
world potential production was 1,800,000
tons in comparison with consumption needs
of 1,000,000 tons. Since the synthetic plant
capacity developed during the Second
World War in the United States alone
amounted to 813,000 long tons and thus
nearly equaled prewar world needs, the
future of natural plantation rubber is not
promising. Natural rubber has been sold
for $0.15 a pound with profit, whereas
synthetic costs in 1943 in cents per pound
were as follows: Buna S, 36; Butyl, 33; and
Neoprene, 45.^

The trees of Hevea brasiliensis grow best
below elevations of 1,000 feet on the west
side of the peninsula. Rainfall is a critical
factor, with the highest yield following a
high rainfall, well distributed throughout
the year. On the plantations about 100
trees are grown per acre, whereas native
groves have many more trees per acre but
lower yields. Yields vary from 200 to

^ Chemical and Engineering News, May 25, 1943,
743.

528

1,000 pounds per acre, according to the
soil, the climate, the number of trees, and
the variety. About one-third of the rubber
was produced on small native holdings.

The Asiatic maritime tropics have proved
to be an ideal place to grow rubber. This
area includes Ceylon and the southern
west coast of India, peninsular Burma and
Thailand, southern Indo-China, Malaya,
Sumatra, Borneo, and Mindanao. Year-
around temperatures are high, rainfall is
about 100 inches, soils are suitable, and
cheap labor is easily imported. Although
South America and Africa have equatorial
areas, they lack the labor supply and have
more of a continental climate, as well as
very serious leaf diseases.

Rice is the staple food, but only 727,000
acres are devoted to its cultivation, largely
in the Nonfederated Malay States where
rubber cultivation is less extensive. Govern-
ment irrigation projects have considerably
increased the yields. Natives usually prefer
to raise rubber as it requires less work
and brings a higher return in good years.
Only Malays are permitted to own land
suitable for raising rice. Additional good
land is available but the cost of clearing
forest and swamp is formidable. '

Cocoanuts are the third crop. Cocoanut
palms begin to bear after six or seven
years, and continue for 60 years. On fertile
soil, an average tree will yield 40 to 60
nuts a year, or 2,500 per acre, enough for
over half a ton of copra. Most of the acreage
is on the low coastal plain and near rivers.
Oil palms are also important.

Malayan pineapples rank next to
Hawaiian in export value, with shipments
largely to the British Empire.

Prior to the First World War, the
economy of Malaya rested on tin mining,
as carried on by the Chinese. Although
rubber is now more important, the 1939
production of tin amounting to 55,950 tons
was 30 per cent of the world production.

Malaya

524

For centuries, alluvial tin has been washed extreme south, with the naval base in the
out by primitive methods, but most of the north near the town of Johore Bahru
mining is now done by large dredges, on the mainland. The city accounted for

Singapore was designed to be one of the key points along the life line of the British Empire.

Lode mining is small but will increase as
the gravels are worked out. Smelters at
Singapore and Penang handle not only the
tin from Malaya but that from Burma,
Thailand, and Indo-China as well.

Japanese interests have greatly expanded
the production of iron ore, manganese, and
bauxite, with the entire production going
to Japan. Iron ore from the states of Kelan-
tan, Trengganu, and Johore amounted to
1,944,701 tons in 1939. Manganese comes
from the first two of these areas and bauxite
from the third. Very large amounts of
bauxite are also obtained from the Dutch
island of Bintan just across the Singapore
Strait.

Local coal is of poor quality but is used
in the tin industry and on the railways.

Singapore is the crossroads of the East.
The island measures some 24 by 14 miles
and is separated from the mainland by a
channel a mile wide. The city lies at the

445,719 people in 1931, of whom 340,614
were Chinese. By 1941 the total had
increased to 727,000. Commerce rather
than industry provides the main occupa-
tion, and Singapore is the great trade center
of the realm. When the British Empire
made Singapore a military base, they over-
looked the problem of air power and defense
in depth. The naval base was of value only
so long as it was in the center of a protected
area. The strategic location of Singapore
remains, but it needs to be reinterpreted.

North Borneo, Brunei, and Sarawak are
other British possessions in Southeastern
Asia, but call for little attention. They
cover coastal plains and low hills, rising to
mountains that reach 13,455 feet. The
tropical climate, evergreen forest, and
products resemble the other parts of
Borneo. Rubber, sugar, petroleum, and
copra are important exports.

Chapter 39

NETHERLANDS INDIES

The following figures provide an appro-
priate preface to the Netherlands Indies:

Area

Population
in 1940

Area in
square
miles

Density

per

square

mile

Java and Madura

48,416,000

51,035

948

Outer Provinces

22,060,000

702,232

Netherlands Indies. . .

70,476,000

753,267

No other country in the world supports
such a density of agricultural population
as Java. By contrast, few lands are more
empty than interior Borneo or New Guinea.
The Dutch have been in the East Indies
since before the founding of the United
East India Company in 160£, but effective
political administration is only a matter of a
century. A census in 1816 during the brief
period of British control gave the popula-
tion of Java as 5 million. By 1845 it reached
9.4 million, and in 1880, 19.5 million.
The 1900 figure was 28.4 million and in 1930
the total reached 40.9 million. No wonder
Ellsworth Huntington has written about
“Java, the Despair of Malthus.’’ And yet
the land supports these people in reason-
able comfort. Perhaps nowhere are there
brighter and more cheerful native people.

The Dutch have been the most successful
of all colonial administrators, and the
development of the islands has been
greatly to the mutual advantage of the
natives and the people of the Netherlands
alike. No other European race has been
willing to settle in colonial lands for a
lifetime, as have the Dutch. Racial prej-

525

udice is lacking and children of mixed
parentage have full status with Dutch.
Thus out of the 242,372 (1931) “Euro-
peans,” from two-thirds to three-fourths
are Eurasians. Since 1922 the Netherlands
Indies have ceased to be a colony and have
become an integral part of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands,

Most of the native people are Malays
in the broad sense, an intelligent and
cheerful folk who work hard when they
must, but who prize their leisure as they
do their property. About 250 languages
are spoken in the islands, grouped into
Indonesian, Melanesian, and Polynesian
types. Mohammedanism is the prevailing
religion, brought by Arabs in the thirteenth
century. Arabs numbered 71,000 in 1930.
In the same year there were 1,234,-
000 Chinese, mostly shopkeepers and
merchants.

The Netherlands Indies lie across the
equator and extend one-eighth of the way
around the earth, no less than 3,100 miles.
From north to south the distance is more
than a third of that figure. The total area
is a quarter that of the United States.
In some respects they belong to Asiatic
geography, but in other regards they are
linked with Australia and Melanesia.
Cultural contrasts range from the Dutch
civilization of Batavia to the recent head-
hunters of the outer islands. Java has
appropriately received the most attention,
but the contrasts in development between
the center and periphery are diminishing.

The largest island is Dutch Borneo with
213,589 square miles. Sumatra follows

526

Netherlands Indies

with an area of 162,268, then comes Dutch cently uplifted marine formations, as
New Guinea with 153,321, and Celebes in the north coasts of Java and Sumatra,
with 71,763. The conventional grouping and by alluvial coastal plains. The Lesser

The typical Javanese landscape is composed of rice fields, cocoanut palm trees, and towering volcanoes. {Satake.)

is into the Greater Sunda Islands of Java, Sunda group has deep sea basins and steep-
Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and adjoining sided islands; here mountain building is
smaller islands that lie on the Sunda in full swing, with frequent earthquakes
continental shelf of Asia; the Lesser Sunda as well as volcanic action. A volcanic arc
Islands from Bali to beyond Timor; and borders the Java, Sumatra, and Borneo
the Moluccas and Dutch New Guinea block and then circles around the New
which are on the Australian continental Guinea block to reach the Philippine
shelf. Islands.

The islands may also be divided geolog- Java has more than a hundred volcanoes
ically into these three parts. The first many of which are active, while Sumatra
and last are relatively stable and are and the other islands of the outer arc are
characterized by erosional land forms, only slightly less volcanic. The eruption of
The surrounding seas are shallow and the Javanese volcanoes, including destructive
islands were connected with Asia and with mud flows, has cost the lives of thousands
Austraha in fairly recent geological time, of people. Many of these volcanoes exceed
Considerable areas are underlain by re- a mile in elevation, and there are mountains

Netherlands Indies

627

over 10,000 feet on half a dozen islands.
Supercraters or caldera are numerous.

The most famous of these volcanoes is

Although the islands are equatorial,
temperatures are moderated by the sea,
and never become excessive. The hot

Coral reefs and mangrove swamps fringe much of the coast of Java, here shown south of Garoet. (Courtesy

Netherlands Airforce,)

Elrakatao, an island in the middle of the
Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra.
During its eruption of 1883, two-thirds of
the island was blown away. Some of the
ejected material was thrown to a height
of 17 miles and carried completely around
the world, producing brilliant sunsets.
This has become the type example of
explosive eruptions. The sound was heard
in Singapore and Australia, and tidal
waves drowned 36,000 people on near-by
islands. Renewed activity in 1927 resulted
in the appearance of a new island of ash
called Anak Xrakatao, “the child of
Krakatao,*’ reported to be 400 feet high
in 1942. The eruption of Tambora in
1815 was of comparable violence.

nights and high humidity, however, com-
bine to make lowland climates very
enervating for Europeans. Everyone who
can possibly do so spends some weeks each
year in the mountains. Temperature is
largely a matter of elevation rather than of
season; thus in Batavia at sea level the
warmest and coolest monthly averages
differ by only 1°, with the yearly average
78.6°F. In contrast, Bandoeng at 2,395
feet has a yearly average of 71.2°, while
Tosari at 5,588 feet averages 60.6°r., and
Gede at 9,914 feet has 48°F. Frost occurs
only on high sheltered plateaus.

The so-called monsoon circulation is a
result of the location between Asia and
Australia with their alternating high and

The eruption of Anak Krakatao, here shown on Feb. 9, 19JJ9, resulted in the formation of an ash island over the
spot where the explosion of 1883 had left water a thousand feet deep. {Neumann van Padang.)

rainy seasons vary from north to south, important at all seasons. Thunderstorms
In January, air blows outward from * are numerous near the equator, with a
Asia and reaches the Indies as a northeast world record average of 322 thunderstorm
wind, merging with the trades. It is rela- days a year at Buitenzorg, south of
tively dry at sea level but yields heavy Batavia.

rain on mountain slopes. After crossing Rainfall is nearly everywhere adequate
the equator, the winds curve to blow from for agriculture, except in eastern Java,
the northwest, and bring rain to Java Madura, and the eastern islands near
and the other islands to the east, July has Australia. Where the rainfall drops below
opposite conditions, with dry southeast 60 inches, corn replaces rice; elsewhere
trade winds which since they come from there is a rice harvest every week in the
arid Australia yield little rain except year, provided that irrigation water is
where forced to rise over mountains. With available for the short dry periods,
increasing distance from their desert source Luxuriant tropical rain forests generally
region, and especially after crossing the prevail where the land has not been
equator and turning to blow from the cleared, except in the swamps of Sumatra.

Netherlands Indies

Almost no forests remain in Java except
on high mountains or steep slopes. Pure
stands of trees are rare, and the economic
value of the forest is restricted by trans-
portation problems. Great diversity of all
life, both plant and animal, is characteristic
of all humid tropical regions. Commercially
useful timber is surprisingly limited, al-
though Java has teak forests. Many tre.es
are damaged by parasites, and decay is
rapid in the humid tropics. Mangrove
swamps border the lower coasts and are
often succeeded inland by nipa palm. Where
the forest has been cleared for migratory
agriculture, rank grasses sometimes re-
capture the land as elsewhere in South-
eastern Asia.

The soils of Java are unusually fertile
for the tropics, largely owing to their
content of volcanic ash of basic rather than
acidic composition. On account of long
cultivation and intensive agricultural prac-
tices, fertilizers are now desirable, but
the quality of the soil is still good. Large
areas in Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and
New Guinea are devoid of volcanoes;
there some of the soils are strikingly
infertile.

Agriculture is of two types: small-scale
subsistence cultivation and large-scale es-
tate or plantation agriculture. Almost the
entire output of the latter is for export,
plus an increasing share of native produc-
tion in the Outer Provinces. Since no
aliens, including the Dutch, are allowed to
purchase land already in native use, the
natives are protected in their holdings and
food supply. This is one of the outstanding
aspects of Dutch administration. Foreign
sugar producers in the settled areas, for
example, may only rent land for fixed
periods and even then are permitted to
grow but one crop in three years on any
one tract. Anyone can lease uncleared
forest.

Irrigated rice fields, here known as

529

sawahs, similar to the paddy fields of
India, respresent the most intensive utiliza-
tion of the landscape. Although largely

90 *
80 *

70 *
60 *
50 *
40 *

32 *

JFMAMJJASOND

Batavia

Average temperature 78.8°F.; total precipitation,
70.9 inches.

confined to the lowlands in Java, spectacu-
lar terraces extend well up the volcanic
slopes. In favored localities one crop
succeeds another the year around.

Other native food crops include com,
sweet potatoes, cassava (in part for
tapioca), peanuts, and soybeans. Fruit
trees and vegetable gardens surround every
house. Water buffaloes are used in the rice
areas with the heaviest rain, oxen in the
drier sections. In backward areas, many
farmers practice migratory ladang or fire
cultivation, similar to the caiflgin clearings
already described. In areas of better soils,
the land is used again after a few years of
fallow so that villages are more or less
fixed. Still another type of land use is found
in permanently occupied areas that are
incapable of irrigation; here corn is more
important than rice. Among native com-
merical crops are cocoanuts, kapok, pepper
and other spices, rubber, cassava, and
coffee.

Plantation agriculture has reached a high
development in the Netherlands Indies.
Foreign capital directed with skill by

530

Netherlands Indies

intensive scientific research, combined with is grown on rented native farms, the
cheap labor and a favorable environment, supervision is entirely under foreign con-
has transformed large areas of wilderness trol. Sumatra ranks next to Java as an

A bamboo suspension bridge in central Java.

into productive sources of commodities area of estates, with tobacco plantations
for the world market. Unfortunately so dating from the 1860’s. Dutch investments
much good land is available that oversupply of all types in 1938 amounted to 2,300,-
has brought repeated economic distress. 000,000 guilders, as compared with total
In 1937 there were 2,389 estates with a foreign investments including Dutch of
total area of 6,090,000 acres, 45 per cent 8,500,000,000 guilders. (One guilder is
of which was under cultivation. Half the normally worth $0.40.)
number were in Java. Although the planted As a result of this agricultural produc-
area was but 0.6 per cent of the entire land tivity the islands contributed 90 per cent
surface of the Indies, the estates contrib- of the world’s quinine, 85 per cent of the
uted 54 i>er cent of the total agricultural pepper, 65 per cent of the kapok, a third
exports. of the rubber and sisal, a quarter of the

Whereas most estates specialize in one palm oil and copra, and a fifth of the tea.
product, notably rubber or copra, many Sugar and coffee are also important agri-
combine several products, such as rubber cultural exports, although the former
and coffee or tea, or cinchona (for quinine) declined from 11 per cent of the world sup-
and tea. Other plantation products are ply in 1929 to 5 per cent in 1939, especially
sugar, tobacco, kapok, sisal, and palm because of greatly increased production in
oil. Although most of the sugar cane British India. Despite these exports, the

Java

531

domestic food supply has been maintained,
and famines are unknown. Java practically
feeds itself. The Outer Provinces have
concentrated so much on export crops that
some importation of rice was necessary
until 1938 when the Indies were self-
supporting for the first time.

Large agricultural possibilities still await
development in the Outer Provinces, even
though the soil is usually less fertile than
in Java. Colonization is under way,
with considerable supervised migration
from overcrowded Java.

Mineral deposits are few in number but
large in value. Important amounts of
petroleum are produced in Sumatra near
Palembang and Djambi in the south, and
Medan in the north. Borneo yields oil at
Balikpapan and Tarakan. Java has a small
output near Rembang, and there is oil
on the island of Ceram. The 1940 produc-
tion was 7,938,000 metric tons. This pro-
vides the largest yield between California
and Iran. Low-grade coal produced in
west-central Sumatra and Borneo amounted
to 1,456,647 tons in 1938.

Tin from the islands of Banka and
Billiton supplies a third of the Asiatic
production, to the extent of 43,900 tons in
1940. Bauxite on the island of Bintan,
opposite Singapore, has been mined for
Japanese interests, with an output of
275,000 tons in 1940, one-sixth of the world
production. Sulphur and manganese from
Java and nickel from Celebes complete
the list of significant minerals.

The export of various commodities
amounted to 743 million guilders in 1939,
with rubber, oil, sugar, tin, and tea as the
leading products in order. One-quarter of
the shipments came to the United States.
Since the total of all imports amounted to
but 470 million guilders, the Netherlands
Indies had a large export surplus with
considerable profit to the Netherlands.
The chief imports are cotton goods from

Japan, machinery from the United States
and the Netherlands, iron and steel
products, and foodstuffs.

Java

Nowhere in the tropics, of either the Old
World or the New, is there a land like
Java. Its population increase is almost
without parallel, as is the intensity of its
land use. The combination of luxuriant
vegetation, picturesque volcanoes, cheerful
people, and intelligent administration
makes Java an unusually attractive island.
Arable land in 1938 amounted to 19,400,000
acres. This is so close to the maximum that
no more than an additional 4 per cent
can be made suitable for agriculture. Rice
fields already climb the slopes of volcanoes
wherever land can be terraced. For ad-
ministrative purposes Java is always linked
with the small near-by island of Madura.

Along the northern shore is a low coastal
plain of alluvium across which the silt-
laden rivers follow diked channels. This is
intensively devoted to sawahs for rice oi
to sugar cane. Farther south is a zone oi
low hills where the soils are less fertile,
usually marl and limestone. The central
mountain backbone has numerous vol-
canoes, rising above a base of folded
sedimentary rocks. Eighty-five peaks ex-
ceed 6,000 feet, and the highest volcano
reaches 12,200 feet. Here and there are
intermontane basins, nearly level, which
are covered with rice sawahs. The original
forest mantle is preserved only on the
higher slopes. A hilly coastal zone parallels
the south shore, with but little level land.

Rain comes chiefly with the west mon-
soon, though convectional showers occui
at all seasons. Only in the extreme north-
east is the amount under 40 inches; mosi
of the lowlands have 60 to 100 inches,
One mountain station reports nearly 40C
inches a year.

The city of Bandoeng in the cooler uplands of western Java bears many resemblances to the homeland of the

Dutch.

Quinine is a unique product, an alkaloid
made from the bark of the cinchona
tree. No other remedy for malaria is so
satisfactory. Seeds were brought to Java
from South America in 1854. Most cinchona
is grown at an elevation of 5,000 feet in
western Java on fertile porous soils, rich
in organic matter. Here, as with sugar,
the yield has been greatly increased
through research. Although once a govern-
ment monopoly, it is now chiefly raised on
private plantations.

For all this the Dutch deserve great
credit, but so too do the native peoples.
Java has an able population, with a tradi-
tion of progress for more than a thousand
years. Three ethnographic groups of Malays

and ninth centuries the people were
Buddhists and later on Hindus. Among
their architectural achievements is a giant
stupa or monument known as the Boro-
budur in central Java. The ornamentation
of the four sculptured terraces is particu-
larly rich, comparable in artistry to the
ruins at Angkor 'in Indo-China. With the
arrival of Mohammedanism, this monu-
ment was covered with earth and trees to
prevent its desecration and was unearthed
only a century ago.

Most Europeans who have gone to Asia
as businessmen or administrators have little
thought of making it their fixed home.
In marked contrast, many Dutch have
setted in Java with considerable per-

Java 585

manence, sending their children to the The city was founded in 1619. There are
homeland only because adequate higher really four towns: the artificial port of
education is not fully available in the Tandjong Priok, six miles away, the old

A rubber estate in Sumatra with its homes for the laborers.'Large areas of rain forest in the outer islands
have been cleared for plantations whereas little such undeveloped land is available in Java. {Courtesy Nether-
lands Airforce.)

Indies. This established type of settlement
is particularly noticeable in the hills at
Bandoeng where a little bit of Holland has
been transplanted.

Java is noted as the first place where
remains were found of very early man.
The discovery of Pithecanthropits erectus
at TriniPin 1891 has been followed by the
toding of three additional skulls by 1940.
Pithecanthropus is of approximately the
same early Pleistocene age as Sinanthropus
in China; no other human fossil material
is so old.

In Java there are half a dozen cities with
over 100,000 people. Batavia is the capital
and chief seaport, with a 1940 population
of 470,700, of whom 40, 100 were Europeans.

town of Batavia, the adjoining settlement
of Meester Cornelis, and the new section
known as Weltevredan. Owing to the
oppressive heat, many government offices
have been moved to Buitenzorg in the
foothills, home of the famous botanical
gardens, and some bureaus even to Ban-
doeng in the mountains. Batavia remains the
great commercial center of the Netherlands
Indies, with 2,400 ships entering the harbor
in 1939. It is 532 nautical miles from
Singapore.

Surabaya is the second city and port,
with 311,300 people in 1940 among whom
were 28,900 Europeans. Surabaya is a
modern city and the port for the sugar

SSQ

Netherlands Indies

trade of eastern Java and commerce with Colonization of these islands' from over-
the islands beyond. crowded Java has been a definite govern-

Semarang is the port of north central ment policy for several decades. Where

Balinese women sorting coffee beans in a farm courtyard.

Java. Bandoeng, Surakarta, and Djokja-
karta are interior towns, each with well
over 100,000 people.

Outer Provinces

The Outer Provinces include the large
islands of Sumatra, Dutch Borneo, Celebes,
and Dutch New Guinea, plus scores of
smaller islands. Although they contain but
half the population of Java, they already
surpass that island in the value of exports.
Rubber is by far the most important estate
crop, with the east coast of Sumatra
overwhelmingly in the lead in acreage.
Here there are ^66 estates, with an average
size of 8,000 acres; American, British,
Belgian, and French capital is invested
along with Dutch. »

plantations have secured and developed
new land through lease, the problem of
securing coolies is relatively simple; but
where groups of colonists are to be settled
on new land, much preliminary work
is required by the government. The
Javanese are wet rice farmers, and irriga-
tion systems are not easy for the individual
pioneer to arrange. Migratory ladang, or
caifigin, cultivation offers no attractions
for the immigrant.

The people of these islands vary widely
in culture. Those in the west belong to
Malay groups, while to the east are
Papuans. Some tribes such as the Kubus
of interior Sumatra and the Dayaks of
Borneo represent low-level ethnographic
groups; others compare with the inhabi-

Ovier Provinces

537

tants of Java in civilization, notably the
people of Bali and Lombok directly east
of Java, where there is much the same
intensity of agriculture.

On Sumatra, the principal cities are
Medan and its port of Belawan-Deli in the
northern rubber area, the oil center of

Palembang in the south, and Padang on the
west coast.

The cities of Borneo include the oil
towns of Balikpapan and Tarakan on the
east coast.

On Celebes the chief city is Macassar
at the south.

Chapter 40

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

An understanding of Philippine geog- solely for their benefits to the mother
raphy should be preceded by a glimpse of country, notably so with the French. By
its history. In no other part of Southeastern contrast, in his instructions to the com-
Asia has European penetration had the mission that set up a civilian government,
same effects. Magellan reached the islands U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root wrote
in 1521, and Spain took possession in as follows:

1565. Although the islands were diverse in ‘Tn all forms of government and admin-
language, they were already knit together istrative provisions which they are author-
in culture, and the Filipinos had an exten- ized to prescribe, the commission should
give trade with China and other parts bear in mind that the government they
of the Orient. are establishing is designed not for our

Spanish interests centered in trade and satisfaction or for the expression of our
Christianity. Commerce came to be of political views, but for the happiness, peace
great importance and, for generations, the and prosperity of the people of the Philip-
Manila galleon from the Philippines to pine Islands, and the measures adopted
Acapulco in Mexico, en route to Spain, should be made to conform to their cus-
was one of the most tempting and romantic toms, their habits and even their prejudices
prizes ever set before a privateer. In return to the fullest extent consistent with the
came supplies of Mexican silver dollars accomplishment of the indispensable requi-
for the China trade, widely current in the sites of just and effective government.”

Far East until the 1930’s. A unique heritage This was followed in 1934 by the Tydings-
from Spanish rule is that 95 per cent of the McDuffie Act which provided for the full
people are Christians, largely Roman independence of a Philippine Common-
Catholic. Spanish is still widely spoken wealth in 1946. Never before had a Western
among the weal^thy class, and the three power voluntarily given up its richest
centuries of colonial rule have left a deep colony.

impress. In some particulars this is but a With American administration came free
surface covering for the basic Malay culture, access to the world’s richest market. Sugar,
In 1898 Admiral Dewey won the Battle cocoanut oil, copra, abaca or Manila hemp,
of Manila Bay and introduced a period of and tobacco were shipped to the United
American control which has resulted in a States in large amounts without the tariff
veneer of Anglo-Saxon civilization. Thus restrictions imposed on adjoining tropical
English is used in the larger cities and lands. This enriched the average Filipino
by the younger generation, but smaller and provided funds for education and
towns and rural settlements have been less public works, but it did not compel agri-
affected. American rule has been unique culture to be efficient. As a result, the
in the history of European imperialism, yield of sugar per acre was only one-third
Elsewhere colonies have been justified that of neaf-by Java. The American

538

539

The Philippine Islands

administration of the Philippines was
seriously negligent in its lack of an adequate
policy for scientific agriculture and forestry,
in contrast to the strong support of research
elsewhere by Dutch, French, and British
governments. High-cost Philippine products
could scarcely compete in the general world
market. This was not admitted when politi-
»cal independence was first sought and has
resulted in agitation for continued economic
reciprocity with the United States.

The Japanese invasion in 1941 showed
how weak an independent Philippines
would be, and how vulnerable the United
States was in the Western Pacific. The
islands have a longer coast line than that
of the United States, and it is impossible
to defend it all. The question of military
security, added to economic problems and
the uncertain prospects of stable internal
authority, makes independence a serious
venture. Government will probably follow
South American patterns of democracy
rather than those of North America.

The Tydings-McDuffie Act provided that
the United States shall surrender all army
posts upon the attainment of full independ-
ence, but that the matter of naval bases
shall be considered at that time. Since it is
very doubtful whether the latter could
be protected without the former or whether
the United States could effectively defend
either in case of a subsequent war, it may
be wiser for the United States to withdraw
entirely. The alternative is effective
military control of the entire Western
Pacific.

A glance at the globe will show that the
great-circle route from Seattle to Manila
passes directly through Tokyo. If America
is to maintain a military interest in the
Philippines, she must carefully weigh mat-
ters of grand -strategy. It was once hoped
that the Philippines would furnish a great
base for United States trade with Orient,
with Manila as a rival to British Hongkong,

but the position is unsuitable as a basis for
relations with China and Japan.

A striking illustration of American
geographic illiteracy in 1898 is shown in
the treaty with Spain by which the United
States bought the islands for $20,000,000.
The commissioners had no suitable map
and hence incorrectly defined the boundary
of what they wished to secure. This resulted
in uncertainty concerning a 150-mile string
of islands next to Formosa in the north,
and the omission of the Sulu Archipelago
in the south. A subsequent payment of
$100,000 was necessary to include the
latter, and two other treaties were needed
before all the Philippines were transferred.
The United States also neglected to take
over the Caroline, Marshall, and Mariana
islands, then Spanish. These later came into
German hands and were transferred to
Japan after the First World War. It was
from bases in these islands that Pearl
Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941.

An attractive economic future potentially
awaits the Philippines. They have soil,
minerals, location, and room for four times
the present population. But many prob-
lems must be solved before the Philippines
become one of the ranking nations of
Eastern Asia.

Except for minor tribes, the various
people of the Philippines are essentially
Mongoloids with a Malaysian culture, but
the detailed ethnographic background is
uncertain. The census records only the very
unscientific racial differentiation of Chris-
tian and non-Christian people. Whereas
the former include those who speak various
languages such as Visayan, Tagalog, and
Ilocano, they are all related as a racial
group. Among non-Christians are the
Mohammedan Moros, the Negritos, and
the “pagan” Igorots; among the latter
are such groups as the Ifugao and the
Bontoc. No less than 87 different languages
are spoken. Tagalog has been proclaimed

540 The Philippine Islands

the national language but is used by only more to Hawaii. The American population
a quarter of the people. was 8,739, exclusive of military personnel

In 1940 the population numbered 16,- and their families. It is not impossible that

Filipino farmhouses are usually raised above the ground so that animals may find shelter beneath. Sliding
windows and steeply pitched thatch roofs reflect the tropical climate. Shocks of rice are drying in the foreground.
(Fenno Jacobs, from Three Lions.)

000,313, as compared with 12,588,066 in
1930 and 7,635,426 in 1903. Since the total
land area is 115,600 square miles (1939
data), there is a density of 139 per square
mile. In the island of Cebu this rises to
628 while in Mindanao it drops to 34.
Chinese account for 117,461, and there
are 750,000 more with some Chinese
blood. More than three-fourths of the retail
trade is in their hands. Japanese numbered
29,272, half of them in Davao to the south.
About 50,000 Filipinos have come to the
United States mainland, and as many

the islands may come to have as many
people as Japan.

Among .^merican contributions have
been good roads, elementary schools, and
public health. Where the infant mortality
in Manila was once 80 per 100, it had
fallen in 1940 to 6 per 100.

If the 7,083 islands of the Philippines
were in the New World, they would extend
from Cuba to the Guianas, a distance equal
to that from upper Lake Michigan to the
Gulf. Two-thirds of the area is in Luzon
and Mindanao, which cover 40,814 and

The Philippine Islands 541

36,906 square miles, respectively. Among ^ enough to have names, and only 1,095 are
other islands of importance are Mindoro, inhabited.

Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and The mountain system of the Philippines

Samar, all of them part of the central is a succession of north-south trending
Visayan group, and Palawan to the west, folds, fault blocks, and volcanic ranges.
Only a third of the islands are large In the central area many of the synclinal

542

The Philippine Islands

basins are below sea level and account
for the embayed and insular character of
the ai^chipelago. There are at least 20 active

100 ®

90®

80®

70®

60®

50®

40®

32®

JFMAMJJASOND

Manila

craters. One of the most symmetrical cones
in the world is that of Mayon in Luzon.
The highest elevation is Mt. Apo in
Mindanao, 9,450 feet. Earthquakes are
also frequent but have seldom been
destructive, partly owing to the type of
house construction. Like the central islands
of the Netherlands Indies and Japan,
the islands are mountains in the process of
rising from the sea, with most formations of
Cenozoic age. To the southeast is the great-
est depth in the ocean, the Mindanao
Deep at 35,410 feet. Extensive areas are
mountainous, and level land is largely in
interior valleys rather than on coastal
plains.

Rainfall seasons rather than temperature
differences determine the climatic regions
of the islands. Only in the extreme north is
there noticeably cooler weather in winter.
Along the west coast the dry season lasts
from November till midrMarch, with
temperatures in the lower seventies, and
continues until mid-June with considerably
warmer days though temperatures rarely
reach 100°F. The rainy season lasts from

• June through October and is accompanied
by cloudy weather and high relative
humidity. This rainfall regime is modified
where mountains lie in the path of moisture-
bearing winds. The east coasts have a fall
and winter maximum but no dry season
in summer. In the south rain is distributed
throughout the year. Interior valleys* more
or less surrounded by mountains are much
drier than the coasts. Conditions are every-
where suitable for crops of one type or
another, although irrigation may be neces-
sary for a few months.

No part of Asia has so many or such
destructive typhoons. They rarely visit
Mindanao, but the central and northern
islands experience these violent storms from
April to December. Typhoons first appear
in the vicinity of the Caroline, Marshall,
and Mariana Islands and move west and
then north. Their high winds and torrential
rainfall bring serious destruction to cocoanut
plantations, fields of sugar cane and abacd,
and the irrigation arrangements for rice
fields. Shipping likewise suffers.

Forests cover 58 per cent of the islands
(1938), with man-made artificial grasslands
or cogonals accounting for 18 per cent.
Twenty-two per cent is in farms, but only
two-thirds of this is actually cropped. The
potentially arable land is placed at 54 per
cent. Excellent tropical hardwoods are
present in abundance, and there is a
considerable export, especially of lauan,
incorrectly termed Philippine mahogany,
to the United States, Japan, and China.
Much of the best timber is relatively
inaccessible. Experimental plantings of true
mahogany grow to a diameter of 20 inches
in 20 years.

Agriculture is characterized by subsist-
ence rice, export sugar, cocoanut products,
abaci or manila hemp, tobacco, and other
crops. There are few large foreign-managed
plantations, for the Filipinos have dis-
couraged foreign investments in the belief

The Philippine Islands 543

that “every additional dollar of American Cebu, western Negros, and Leyte where
capital is another nail in the coffin of more than half the area is in crops. In most
Philippine independence.” Rice and to- of Mindanao, Palawan, and the northern

Igorot rice terraces form a striking note in the mountain landscape of northern Luzon. {Fenno Jacobs^ from Three

Lions.)

bacco are the usual crops in the fertile mountains of Luzon, cropland averages
valleys. Cocoanuts are grown on the sandy less than 10 per cent. The fact that only
coastal plains and up the hillsides to eleva- 8 per cent of the farm land appears to be
tions of 1,000 feet and more. Abaca is double-cropped is an indication that no
raised on the moist eastern slopes especially land shortage exists. Only a quarter of the
in Mindanao. Corn and sweet potatoes farmers irrigate their land,
occupy the drier and unirrigated soils. Rice is raised on nearly half the total crop
Rubber production is not important al- area. Four methods of cultivation are used :
though there is a Goodyear plantation in flooded fields in which the rice is trans-
Mindanao. Pineapples are canned by Del planted from seedbeds, the sabog method
Monte on the same island. of broadcast sowing on wet or flooded fields.

Cultivated land is concentrated in central dry upland rice grown on plowed fields
and southern Luzon, southern Panay, known as secano cultivation, and caiftgin

The Philippine Islands

544

rice planted in fire-cleared forest openings
where the individual seeds are placed in
small holes made by a stick or other sharp-

Cocoanut palms line most village streets in Luzon.
{Courtesy Robert L. Pendleton,)

pointed tool. Corn is the second great food
crop, generally raised on drier land. On
Cebu and Bohol, where the soils are de-
rived from coral formations and are largely
unirrigable, com almost entirely replaces
rice.

Too much of the agriculture is designed
for export markets in the United States.
It has been estimated that over half the
population obtain their livelihood from
cocoanut products, sugar, abaci, tobacco,
and embroidery. As a result, the islands do
not feed themselves, and nearly a fifth of
their imports are foodstuffs.

The acreage in cocoanut palms, amount-
ing to 15 per cent, is third only to that of
rice and com. Production occurs along the
shores of most islands except in north-
eastern Luzon where typhoons are too de-
structive. The Philippines have usually led

the world in the export of cocoanut oil and
are second to the Netherlands Indies in
copra. The area southeast of Manila has
been called one of the largest artificial
forests in the world. Ground-water supply
and elevation are as important as rainfall
and soil in determining the location for
cocoanut cultivation. Thus coastal plains
are suitable, even though sandy, since
ground water from tihe hilly interior here
comes near the surface. Trees begin to
bear at the age of six or seven years and
continue for 40 to 60 years. To form copra,
the cocoanut meat is dried over a fire made
from the outer husk. Aside from its export
value, the tree supplies food, clothing, and
shelter. The chief use of cocoanut oil, now
one of the principal vegetable oils of com-
merce, is in soap and margarine. Some
American steamers on the run from the
United States start with enough fuel oil
for the round trip; when they reach Manila,
half their tanks are empty and these are
cleaned and filled with cocoanut oil for the
return trip.

Sugar production had a spectacular rise
from 1920 to 1934, following the removal
of United States import duties and ending
with the imposition of quotas. From 2 per
cent of the world’s total, the islands rose
to 16 per cent, with 44 “centrals” or
modem steam sugar mills producing “cen-
trifugal” sugar. Cane is raised by peasants
and sold to the refining companies, whereas
in Java the entire process is in the hands
of the same concern; hence in part the
difference in yields. The volcanic soils of
Negros and central Luzon provide ideal
conditions, with just the right length of dry
season. Yields are lower than in most
countries but have increased considerably.
The importance of sugar as a cash crop is
shown in the fact that it accounts for over
half of all exports. In the peak year of 1934,
shipments amounted to 1,275,000 tons,
valued at $65,450,000. Independence with-

The Philippine Islands 545

out access to the American market may the United States, and so the market
bring the end of the industry, for Philippine should remain. Another fiber is Philippine
sugar cannot yet compete on the world sisal.

AbadL or manila hemp supplies marine cordage for the entire world. Most of the production is around Davao in

Mindanao. {Ewing Galloway.)

market. Since the industry has provided
tax revenue to the extent of $10,000,000,
the political results are serious.

Abacd is one of the unique crops of the
Philippines, grown nowhere else so widely.
AbacA belongs to the banana family, with
fibers 8 to 10 feet in length. This fiber is
very strong and elastic, and exceptionally
resistant to salt water, hence its use for
marine cordage. The trade name is Manila
hemp. It is chiefly grown on Mindanao and
is southern Luzon where there is a wet
tropical climate without strong winds. The
production around Davao was largely de-
veloped by the Japanese. In acreage, but
not in value, it exceeds sugar cane. In this
case only 25 per cent of the export is to

Tobacco was one of the chief products
under Spanish rule but now accounts for
only 2 per cent of the crop area. The
principal district is the Cagayan valley in
northern Luzon.

The Philippines are able to produce at
least small quantities of such crops as
cotton, cassava, coffee, fruits, forest prod-
ucts, kapok, and rubber. But these are the
very items of which surplus supplies are
available elsewhere. Careful agricultural
research and a study of foreign markets
will be essential. If the market for the
present export crops is curtailed and the
islands are not to sink into economic chaos,
a considerable period of American prefer-
ential tariffs may be necessary.

The Fhili'p'pine Islands

546

The mining industry has had a spectacu-
lar growth. The Philippines now produce
more gold than Alaska or any American
state except California. The output in 1941
amounted to 1,109,000 ounces, five times
that of 1931. Silver is usually associated in
equal amounts by weight. Most of the yield
is from the Benguet district near Baguio
in northern Luzon.

Iron ore production has developed rap-
idly, with 1,191,641 metric tons shipped to
Japan in 1941. Camarines Norte in eastern
Luzon, the island of Samar, and Surigao in
eastern Mindanao are the producers, with
an estimated reserve of 500 million tons at
Surigao. These are lateritic ores with low
silica, sulphur, and phosphorus, and an
iron content of 48 per cent, easily mined
and near tidewater.

Chromium was not discovered until 1935,
but by 1939 the Philippines produced
164,000 metric tons and ranked fifth with
11 per cent of the world output. The Zam-
bales deposit in western Luzon is among
the largest in the world, writh 10 million
tons of ore, much of it averaging 50 per
cent chromium oxide.

Manganese is very extensive but of
medium quality. Shipments to the United
States started in 1935, and the 1940 output
was 58,038 metric tons.

Copper, lead, and zinc are present, but
not in sufficient quantities to make export
to the United States attractive.

Petroleum is lacking and coal almost so.
The coal is lignite of Oligocene age and not
suitable for smelting. Unfortunately there
appears to be no basis for a domestic metal-
lurgical industry, so that coke must be
imported or the ores exported.

Luzon

Within the Philippines are many diver-
gent environments and types of land utili-
zation. A critical delineation of regions

should consider the climatic contrasts be-
tween the east and west coasts, the distribu-
tion of cocoanuts and abac4, or topography.
The simplest scheme is to deal separately
with Luzon, the Visayan Islands in the
center, and Mindanao.

Luzon is the largest, best known, and
most important of the islands. Even here
wide contrasts exist between the highly
developed central agricultural plains and
the backward lands in the mountains.
Primitive negritos using bows and arrows
live but 50 miles from Manila.

Two mountain ranges extend into north-
ern Luzon. Between them is the Cagayan
Valley, longest in the Philippines. The
subregion drains northward and is cut off
from Manila by rough terrain. Its rich
river-bank soils have made it the leading
tobacco district. Because of the inter-
montane position, there is a considerable
dry period.

West of the Cagayan Valley lies the
Mountain Province. The elevation averages
4,000 feet, so that the climate is temperate.
Here is the highest peak in Luzon, iiMt.
Pulog which rises to 9,400 feet. The city of
Baguio has become the principal summer
resort of the islands, frequented during the
hot dry season from mid-March through
May. Within the province is the Bontoc
area, famous for the rice terraces of the
Igorots which cling to the steep rainy side
of the valleys. Here too is the major gold
mining district of the islands. The north-
east coast of Luzon is also mountainous
and backward.

Most of the cropland of Luzon lies in the
central lowland around Manila Bay and
northward to Lingayen Gulf; over 40 per
cent of the land is under cultivation. Rice
is the great crop, with cocoanuts in the
southern part and sugar to the north.

Along the west coast is the rugged and
densely forested Zambales area, which ter-
minates to the south in the Bataan penin-

Luzon

547

sula and the island of Corregidor, famous The southern peninsulas of Luzon are a
for the heroic stand of the Filipino and mixture of mountains, volcanoes, and in-

The Americanized city of Manila lies to the right of the Pasig River, while the ancient walled Spanish town is on

the left. (Ewing Galloway.)

American troops against the Japanese in terior plains. The commercial crops are
1942. cocoanuts and abacd.

548

The Philippine Islands

Manila is the chief city of the Philippines,
with a population in 1939 of 623,493, four
times that of its nearest rival, Cebu. Manila
is situated on the delta of Pasig River where
it enters the broad but shallow Manila Bay.
The modern port has been developed behind
breakwaters at one side of the river, with
an extensive area built up by dredged mud
from the harbor. Interisland vessels dock
along the river. An old walled city known
as Intramuros is a relic of Spanish days, in
contrast to the conspicuous penetration of
American cultural forms. Manila’s chief in-
dustries relate to the export and import
trades, and to shipping.

Visayan Islands

Although these numerous islands have
but half the area of Luzon, their population
is nearly as large. In several districts the
land is over 50 per cent cultivated, and
population densities are higher than any-
where else in the Philippines. Mountains
and plains are roughly in the proportion of
two to one.

The small island of Cebu dominates the
Visayans. The black clay coral soil of the
island is mostly incapable of irrigation and
too dry for rice, so that corn is the staple
food, and cocoanuts the exjmrt. The climate
is healthy and drier than elsewhere, the
rainfall is about 40 inches, and the people
very industrious. Cebu has the densest
population, and its port of Cebu city re-
corded a 1939 population of 146,817. The
adjoining island of Negros has fertile

volcanic soils which have helped it to
become the major sugar producer.

Mindanao

Much of Mindanao is undeveloped and
unmapped, and the sparse population of
the interior is in sharp contrast to Luzon.
Most of the 1,997,304 people live along
the coast and near the few towns, although
land not too steep to plow is most abundant
inland. Extensive plains with relatively
extensive swamps occur in Cotabato and
the Agusan Valley on either side of the
north-south mountain axis. Settlement
possibilities are considerable and include
upland areas from 1,000 to 5,000 feet above
sea level climatically suitable for Euro-
peans. Soils in the vicinity of the numerous
volcanoes have been enriched by falls of
ash so that their fertility is good. Alluvial
soils are also rich, but elsewhere leaching
has markedly reduced the fertility.

The extensive forests provide large and
excellent timber reserves, except where they
have been burned over by caiftgin cultiva-
tion and replaced by cogon grass. These
grasslands supply the food for a consider-
able cattle industry. Iron ore, gold, and
some coal are the mineral resources now in
production.

Abac4 and ramie have been extensively
cultivated by the Japanese around Davao
in the south. Rubber is grown in limited
amounts near Zamboanga. Excellent pine^
apples and bananas are raised. Copra
forms an important export.

Suggested Readings

550

CHAPTER a. ASIA’S CONTINENTAL
PATTERNS

The Geographic Personality

British geographers have written two standard
volumes on the continent: L. Dudley Stamp: “Asia/*
New York: Dutton, 3d ed. (1935); and Lionel W.
Ltde: “The Continent of Asia,’* London: Macmillan
(1933). The outstanding French volumes are those
in the series entitled “Geographic universelle,**
Paris: Librairie Armand Colin (1 928-1 93£), with the
following volumes devoted to parts of Asia: “Asie
occidentale’’ by Raoul Blanchard; “Haute Asie”
by Fernand Grenard; “Asie des moussons’* by
Jules Sion, Part 1, “Genferalites — Chine — Japon**;
Part 2, “Inde — Indochine — Insulinde**; and “Etats
die la Baltique, Russie’* by P. Camena D*Almeida.
The chief German series is in the “Klute Handbuch
der Geographischen Wissenschaft,” Potsdam Akad-
emische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion (1931-1937),
with two volumes entitled “Nordasien, Zentral-und
Ostasien” and “Vorder-und Sudasien.” A volume in
Russian which deals with Asia outside the U.S.S.R. is
V. M. Stein: “Economic Geography of Asia,**
Leningrad: Geographic-Economic Scientific Research
Institute (1940), reviewed by George B. Cresset
in the Far Eastern Quarterly y I (1942), 180-184. Only
one other volume has been written by an American,
namely, Daniel R, Berosmark: “Economic Geog-
raphy of Asia,” New York; Prentice-Hall (1935), but
the series of articles by Van Valkenburg, Cresset,
and Hall entitled Agricultural Regions of Asia,
Economic Geographyy VII (1931-1936), supplies a com-
prehensive picture of land forms, climate, and land
use. Three volumes, old but still useful, are A. H.
Keane: “Asia,** London: Stanford (1906), 2 vols.;
Archibald Little: “The Far East,” Oxford; Claren-
don Press (1905); and D G. Hogarth: “The Nearer
East,** Oxford; Clarendon Press (1905), For an
anthropological survey see L. H. D. Buxton: “The
Peoples of Asia,” New York: Knopf (1925). The
geology is described by KuklLeuchs; “Geologic von
Asien,” Berlin: Borntraeger (1937), 2 vols.

The best set of maps covering all of the continent
except the extreme north is the 1:4,000,000 series
of the British General Staff.

Configuration and Drainage

The classic account of Asiatic geology is that of
Eduard Sdebs: “The Face of the Earth,” Oxford:
Clarendon Press (1904-1924), 5 vols.; summarized
by J. W. Gregory: Suess*s Classification of Eurasian
Mountains, Geographical Joumaly XLV (1915),
497-513. The synthesis of E. Argand entitled La
Tectonique de I’Asie is presented in the Comptes

renduesy Thirteenth International Geological Con-
gress, Brussels, (1924), 1, 171-372. A summary volume
dealing with various parts of the continent is edited
by J. W. Gregory: “The Structure of Asia,” London:
Methuen (1929).

Climate and Vegetation

The best descriptions of regional climates are those
by various authors in the “ Koeppen-Geiger Handbuch
der Klimatologie,” Berlin: Borntraeger (1931).
Somewhat older descriptions may be found in W. G.
Kendrew: “The Climates of the Continents,**
Oxford: Clarendon Press (1927). Meteorological data
are available in H. Helm Clayton: “World Weather
Records,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections,
LXXIX (1927) and XV (1934).

People

Griffith Taylor has contributed many stimulat-
ing ideas in his “Environment, Race, and Migra-
tion,” Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1987).

Oeostrategy in Asia

The classic volume on geopolitics is Halford J.
Mackinder: “Democratic Ideals and Reality,” New
York: Holt (1942). Isaiah Bowman has surveyed
the political geography of the world following the
First World War in “The New World,** Yonkers-
on-Hudson; World Book (1928), 4th ed.

CHINA

General References on China

An extensive bibliography may be found in George
B. Cresset: “China’s Geographic Foundations,”
New York: McGraw-Hill (1934), also published in a
French edition under the title of “Geographic
humaine et 6conomique de la Chine,’* Paris (1939);
and in Chinese, Commercial Press (in press). Some
of this information is summarized in his Agricultural
Regions of Asia: China, Economic Geography y X
(1934), 109-142. Other standard volumes are Archi-
bald Little: “The Far East,” Oxford: Clarendon
Press (1905); L. H. D. Buxton: “China, the Land
and the People; a Human Geography,** Oxford:
Clarendon Press (1929); Jules Sion: “Asie des
moussons,** Chine-Japon, Paris: Librairie Armand
Colin (1928); and Julean Arnold: “China, a Com-
mercial and Industrial Handbook,” Washington:
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce (1926).
The annual volumes of the China Yearbook, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, and the Chinese Year-
book (in Chinese) contain a large amount of statisti-
cal data. The various publications of the Institute
OF Pacific Relations are invaluable, notably the

Suggested Readings

fortnightly Far Eastern Survey of the American Coun-
cil. The Journal of the Geographical Society of China
has been published since 1934. Considerable material
on physical geography may be obtained from the
Journal of the Association of Chinese and American
Engineers. Two excellent volumes whose scope is much
wider than their titles are J. Lossing Buck; “Land
Utilization in China,** Chicago: University of Chicago
Press (1937), 3 vols.; and Jambs Thorp: “Geography
of the Soils of China,** Nanking: National Geological
Survey (1986). Aerial photographs are available in
Hans Koestbb: Four Thousand Hours over China,
National Geographic Magazine, LXXIII (1938),
671-598.

The outstanding atlases are those prepared by
V. K. Ting, Wong Wen-hao, and S. T. Tseng of the
Geological Survey, and published by the Shun Poo, a
newspaper in Shanghai. The larger “New Atlas of
China’* was issued in 1933, while a smaller “New
Maps of the Chinese Provinces’* has appeared in its
third edition; both are entirely in Chinese. The best
atlases in English, though limited to place geography,
are the “Atlas of the Chinese Empire’* published by
the China Inland Mission, London (1908); and
the “Postal Atlas of China,** Nanking (1936). Two
timely volumes are Marthb Rajohman: “New
Atlas of China,** New York: Day (1941), dealing
with transportation; and G. F. Hudson and Mabthe
Rajohman: “An Atlas of Far Eastern Politics,’’ New
York: Institute of Pacific Relations (1942). The most
useful wall map, now old, is that by Alexander
Hosie: “Commercial Map of China,’’ London;
Philip.

CHAPTER 3. THE CHINESE LANDSCAPE

The best histories are those of Kenneth S. Latoub-
ette: “The Chinese, Their History and Culture,”
New York; Macmillan (1934), 2 vols.; and “The
Development of China,” Boston; Houghton, 5th ed.
(1937). J. G. Andersson has described his archaeo-
logical studies in “Children of the Yellow Earth,”
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner (1934). The
early work on Sinanthropus is summarized by David-
son Black and others: Fossil Man in China, Memoirs
Geological Survey of China, Series A, No. 11 (1933).
Carl W. Bishop has written extensively on the
beginnings of Chinese culture: The Geographic Factor
in the Development of Chinese Civilization, Geo-
graphical Review, XII (1922), 19-41; The Rise of
Civilization in China with Reference to its Geographi-
cal Aspects, Geographical Review, XXII (1932),
617-631; The Beginnings of Civilization in Eastern
Asia, Annual Report Smithsonian Institution (1940),
431-445; and Origin of the Far Eastern Civilizations,
Smithsonian Institution (1942). Among the various

551

articles of Perct M. Roxby are The Expansion of
China, Scottish Geographical Magazine, XLVI (1930),
65-79; and The Terrain of Early Chinese Civilization,
Geography, XXIII (1938), 225-236. The meaning of
place names is described by Joseph E. Spenceb:
Chinese Place Names and the Appreciation of
Geographic Realities, Geographical Review, XXXI
(1941), 79-94.

CHAPTER 4. CHINA’S PHYSICAL
ENVIRONMENT

Geological studies will be found in the publications
of the National Geological Survey and the
Geological Society of China. The best summaiy
of historical geology is J. S. Lee; “The Geology of
China,” London: Thomas Murby (1939). The Tokyo
Geographical Society has published a “Geological
Atlas of Eastern Asia” in 17 sheets, scale 1:2,000,000,
Tokyo (1929).

Climatic material is largely restricted to the
publications of the Jesuits at Zikawei Observatory
near Shanghai, and the National Research Institute
of Meteorology at Nanking and Chungking. Among
the former publications are H. Gauthier: “La
temperature en Chine,” (1918); and E. Gherzi:
“Etude sur la pluie en Chine,” (1928); “Atlas de
I’humidit^ relative en Chine,” (1934); and “Atlas
thermom^trique de la Chine,” (1934). The publica-
tions of the Institute include “The Chinese Rainfall”
by CocHiNG Chu and others, (1936), and his “A Brief
Survey on the Climate of China,” (1936); also
Chang-wang Tu: Climatic Provinces of China,
Journal Geographical Society of China, III (1936),
in Chinese with English abstract; and Chinese Air
Mass Properties, Quarterly Journal Royal Meteoro-
logical Society, LXV (1939), 33-51. W. J. Kendrbw
has prepared a chapter on climate for L. H. D.
Buxton; “China, the Land and the People.”

Soil characteristics are described in James Thorp’s
“Geography of the Soils of China,” and the numerous
Soil Bulletins of the National Geological Survey
many of which describe regional geography. Environ-
mental aspects of agriculture are presented by T. Min
Tieh: Soil Erosion in China, Geographical Review,
XXXI (1941), 570-590. See also W. C. Lowdermilk
and D. R. Wickes; China and America against
Soil Erosion, Scientific Monthly, LVI (1943), 393-413,
505-520; and Ancient Irrigation in China Brought
up to Date, Scientific Monthly, LV (1942), 209-225.

Mineral resources are evaluated in H. Foster Bain:
“Ores and Industry in the Far East,” New York:
Council on Foreign Relations, rev. ed. (1933);
Wilfred Smith: “A Geographical Study of Coal and
Iron in China,” Liverpool: University Press (1926);
and Thomas T. Read: “Economic — G^graphic

552 Suggested Readings

Aspects of China’s Iron Industry, Geographical Review^
XXXIII (ld4S), 42-55. The unusual importance of
salt is described by Joseph E. Spencbb: Salt in China,
Geographical Review^ XXV (1935), 353-366. In addi-
tion to the production figures of the China Yearbook^
wartime developments are described by A. Viola
Smith in Mineral Resources, Production and Trade of
China, Foreign Minerals Quarterly ^ IV (1941), 1-31.

CHAPTER 5. FARMING IN CHINA

The outstanding study of agriculture is J. L. Buck’s
*‘Land Utilization in China,” summarized in George
B. Cressey: Foundations of Chinese Life, Economic
Geography^ XV (1939), 95-104. Many of the travel
observations of F. H. Kang in “Farmers of Forty
Centuries,” New York: Harcourt (1926) are still
valid. The standard German source is Wilhelm
Wagner: “Die Chinesische Landwirtshaft,” Berlin:
Paul Parey (1926). Source materials from Chinese
authors collected by the Institute op Pacific
Relations are published in “Agrarian China,”
Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1940). Regional
crop distributions are mapped in Glenn T. Tre-
wartha; Ratio Maps of China’s Farms and Crops,
Geographical Review^ XXVIII (1938), 102-111. Eco-
nomic aspects are considered by Fred J. Rossiter:
in Foreign Agriculture^ issued by the U. S. Bureau of
Agricultural Economics: Agriculture in China, III
(1939), 431-498.

CHAPTER 6. REGIONS OF NORTH CHINA

General material on regions may be found in
J. L. Buck’s “Land Utilization in China”; Thorp’s
“Geography of the Soils of China”; Little’s “The
Far East”; and Lyde’s “The Continent of Asia.”
The feel of North China has been well captured by
Herman Keyserling: “The Travel Diary of a
Philosopher,” London: J. Cape; New York: Harcourt
(1925). Problems of flood and drought are considered
in Walter H. Mallory: “China: Land of Famine,”
New York: American Geographical Society (1926).
One of the best travel accounts is Harry A. Franck:
■“Wandering in Northern China,” New York:
Century (1923).

Yellow Plain

The problem of the Yellow River has been con-
sidered by O. J. Todd in various articles, particularly
in The Yellow River Problem, Transactions American
Society of Civil Engineers, CV (1940), 346-453;
and Taming “Flood Dragons” Along China’s Hwang
Ho, National Geographic Magazine^ LXXXI (1942),
205-284. Other aspects are described by Frederick
G. Clapp: Along and Across the Great Wall of
China, Geographical Review^ IX (1920), 221-249; The

Hwang Ho, Yellow River, Geographical Review^ XII
(1922), 1-18; and George B. Barbour: Pleistocene
History of the Huangho, Bulletin Geological Society
of America, XLIV (1933), 1143-1160. Two of the
principal cities are described in articles by Margaret
Hitch: The Port of Tientsin and Its Problems,
Geographical Review, XXV (1985), 367-381; W.
Robert Moore: The Glory That Was Imperial
Peking, National Geographic Magazine, LXIII (1933),
745-780; and John W. Coulter: Peiping, Journal of
Geography, XXXIII (1934), 161-171.

Shantung Peninsula

Charles K. Edmunds: Shantung, China’s Holy
Land, National Geographic Magazine, XXXVI (1919),
231-252.

Loessland

The origin and characteristics of the loess are
described by George B. Barbour: The Loess of
China, China Journal of Arts and Sciences, III (1925),
454-463, 509-519; and Recent Observations on the
Loess of North China, Geographical Journal, LXXXVI
(1935), 54-65; and Myron L. Fuller: Some Unusual
Erosion Features in the Loess of China, Geographical
Review, XII (1922), 570-584. Farming possibilities in
Shansi are described in two articles by Raymond T.
Moyer: Agricultural Practices in Semi-arid North
China, Scientific Monthly, LV (1942), 301-316; and
Agricultural Soils in a Loess Region of North China,
Geographical Review, XXVI (1936), 414-425.

Manchurian Plain

A large amount of information from Japanese
sources is available in the reports of the South
Manchurian Railway, the Manchurian Year
Books, replaced by the Far East Year Book in 1941,
and the magazine Contemporary Manchuria (from
1937 on). OwenLattimore has contributed numerous
articles particularly his “ Manchuria, Cradle of
Conflict,” New York: Macmillan (1932); and Chinese
Colonization in Manchuria, Geographical Review,
XXII (1932), 177-195. Articles by E. E. Ahnert
and C. Walter Young are included in the symposium
entitled “Pioneer Settlement,” New York: American
Geographical Society (1932). Three studies by
George F. Deabt are as follows: The Future of
Manchurian Agriculture, Journal of Geography,
XXXVII (1938), 20-27; The Soya Bean in Man-
churia, Economic Geography, XV (1935), 803-810;
and Recent Trends in Manchoukuoan Trade, Eco-
nomic Geography, XVI (1940), 162-170. Two general
articles are Robert B. Hall: The Geography of
Manchuria, Annals American Academy of Political
and Social Science, CLII (1980), 278-292; and John

Suggested Readings

B. Appleton; The ^Economic and Commercial
Development of Manchuria, Bulletin Geographical
Society of Philadelphia, XXXII (1984), 75-87.
The metropolis of the north is covered by Shannon
McCunb: Harbin, Manchoukuo, JournoZ of Geography,
XXXIX (1940), 187-196. The details of expanding
cultivation are considered by W. Ladejinskt; Agricul-
ture in Manchuria, Foreign Agriculture, I (1937),
157-182.

Khingan Mountains

Bruno Plaetschke: “Das Bergland der nord-
westlichen Mandschurei,*’ Petermann’s Mitteilungen,
Erganzungscheft 232 (1937).

CHAPTER 7. REGIONS OF SOUTH CHINA

General information may be obtained from each
of the general references listed at the beginning of the
preceding chapter. Harry A. Franck’s volume for
this area is entitled “Roving through Southern
China,” New York: Century (1925).

Yangtze Plain

The classic account of intensive agriculture is that
of F. II. King: “Farmers of Forty Centuries.” Details
in a small area of the delta south of Shanghai are
described by George B. Cresset: The Fenghsien
Landscape, Geographical Review, XXVI (1936),
396-413, A sociological study farther west is Hsiao-
TUNG Fei: “Peasant Life in China,” New York:
Dutton (1939). The development of transportation
facilities is considered by Joseph E. Spencer: Trade
and Transshipment in the Yangtze Valley, Geographi-
cal Review, XXVIII (1938), 112-123. Shanghai’s
port problems are analyzed in the publications of the
Whangpoo Conservancy Board, notably “The Port
of Shanghai,” 9th ed. (1936), revised frequently.
Geographical details may be obtained from John E.
Orchard: Shanghai, Geographical Review, XXVI
(1936), 1-31. Pictures and description are presented in
Robert W. Moore; Cosmopolitan Shanghai, Key
Seaport of China, National Geographic Magazine,
LXII (1932), 311-335. China’s southern capital is
the subject of an article by Julius Eigner : The Rise
and Fall of Nanking, National Geographic Magazine,
LXXm (1938), 189-224.

The Szechwan Basin

The standard volume is Alexander Hosie:
“Szechwan, Its Products, Industries, and Resources,”
Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh (1922). Further details
are available in Joseph Beech: The Eden of the
Flowery Republic, National Geographic Magazine,
XXXVIII (1920), 355-390. Developments in the new
capital are described by Joseph E. Spencer: Chang-

553

ing Chungking — the Rebuilding of an Old Chinese
City, Geographical Review, XXIX (1939), 46-60.
The geography of Chengtu is covered in George D.
Hubbard: The Geographic Setting of Chengtu,
Bulletin Geographic Society of Philadelphia, XXI
(1923), 109-139. Rural life is portrayed by Joseph
E. Spencer: The Szechwan Village Fair, Economic
Geography, XVI (1940), 49-58.

Southeastern Coast

Two old but excellent travel accounts are those of
Robert Fortune: “Three Years’ Wanderings in the
Northern Provinces of China,” London: J. Murray
(1847); and “Two Visits to the Tea Coimtry of
China,” London: J. Murray (1853). Conditions in
Fukien are described by Floy Hurlbut: “The
Fukienese; a Study in Human Geography,” Muncie
(1939). Topographic conditions in the northern end
of the region and the adjoining South Yangtze Hills
are described by George B. Cresset in The Land
Forms of Chekiang, Annals Association of American
Geographers, XXVIII (1938), 259-276.

Canton Hinterland

The geography of the West River Valley is the
subject of a study by Gustav Hauke-Fochler:
“Die Natur des Si Kiang-Stromgebietes (Sudchina),”
Mitteilungen Geographische Gesellschaft, Mlinchen,
XXVII (1934), 143-266. Agricultural conditions are
described by T. Y. Tang: Land Utilization in South
China, Proceedings Sixth Pacific Science Congress,
California (1939), IV, 933-940; and Chen Han-seng:
“Landlord and Peasant in China,” New York:
International Publishers (1936). For photographic
details of the western area see G. Weidman Groff
and T. C. Lau: Landscaped Kwangsi, China’s
Province of Pictorial Art, National Geographic Maga-
zine, LXXII (1937), 671-726. British interests are
presented in Hong Kong — Britain’s Far-flung Outpost
in China, National Geographic Magazine, LXXIII
(1938), 349-360. Conditions of intensive agriculture
in the West River delta are described by Glenn T.
Trewartha: Field Observations on the Canton
Delta of South China, Economic Geography, XV
(1939), 1-1

Southwestern Uplands

The standard volume is H. R. Davies: “Yunnan,
the Link between India and the Yangtze,” Cambridge:
University Press (1909). A collection of essays by
Chinese authors has been translated by J. Siguret:
“Territoires et populations des confins du Yunnan,”
Peiping: Henry Vetch (1937). Conditions among
the tribespeople of western Yunnan are the subject of
“The Tower of Five Glories: A Study of the Min Chia

Suggested Readings

554

of Ta Li» Yunnan/* London: Cresset Press (1941) ; and
The Tali District of Western Yunnan, Geographical
Journal, XCIX (1942), 50-60, both by C. P. Fix*-
GERALD. Arnold Heim has described the Earthquake
Region of Taofu in Bulletin Geological Society of
America, XLV (1984), 1085-1050. Observations of a
geographer are contained in Kweichou: an Internal
Chinese Colony, Poci/ic Affairs, XIII (1940), 162-172,
by Joseph E. Spencer. Two articles on the highway
to Burma are Patrick Fitzgerald: The Yunnan-
Burma Road, Geographical Journal, XCV (1940),
161-174; and Henry Craw: The Burma Road, Geo~
graphical Journal, XCIX (1942), 238-246. Political
geography is the subject of Owen Lattimorb:
Yunnan, Pivot of Southeast Asia, Foreign Affairs,
XXI (1943), 476-493.

CHAPTER 8. REGIONS OF OUTER CHINA

Owen Lattimore has presented a detailed analysis
of these regions and the adjoining areas of North
China in his “Inner Asian Frontiers of China,** with,
bibliography. New York: American Geographical
Society (1940).

Mongolia

The best American studies are those of the American
Museum of Natural History, notably Charles P.
Berkey and Frederick K. Morris: ** Geology of
Mongolia,** New York (1927); Roy Chapman
Andrews: “The New Conquest of Central Asia,**
New York (1933); and also his Explorations in the
Gobi Desert, National Geographic Magazine, LXIII
(1933), 653-716. A geographical evaluation of condi-
tions in Suiyuan province may be found in George B.
Cressey: The Ordos Desert of Inner Mongolia,
Journal of the Scientific Laboratories, Denison Uni-
versity, XXVIII (1933), 155-248. Some of the
finest descriptions of Mongolian life are those in the
classic volumes by Evariste Regis Hue: “Travels in
Tartary, Thibet and China, 1844-46.’* Owen Latti-
more has summarized some of his observations in
The Geographical Factor in Mongol History, Geo-
graphical Journal, XCI (1938), 1-20. Colonization
possibilities are considered by George B. Cresset
and by Owen Lattimore in the voliune “Pioneer
Settlement,** New York: American Geographical
Society (1932).

Sinkiang

Much of our knowledge of Chinese Turkestan
grows out of the explorations of Sib M. Aubel Stein,
summarized in his “ On Ancient Central- Asian Trails,**
London : Macmillan (1933); and Innermost Asia, Its
Geography as a Factor in History, Geographical

Journal, LXV (1925), 377-408, 478-501. Of only
slightly less importance is the work of Sven Hedin:
“The Silk Road/* London: Routledge (1938); “The
Wandering Lake (Lop-nor),** New York: Dutton
(1940); and “Through Asia,** New York: Harper
(1899) 2 vols. Ellsworth Huntinoton*s “The Pulse
of Asia,** Boston: Houghton (1919) provides stimu-
lating ideas, but his comments on climatic changes
should be read in connection with the articles of
Reginald C. F. Schonberg entitled The Climatic
Conditions of the Tarim Basin, Geographical Journal,
LXXV (1980), 813-823; The Habitability of Chinese
Turkestan, Geographical Journal, LXXX (1982),
505-511; and “Peaks and Plains of Central Asia,**
London: Martin Hopkinson (1938). Delightful travel
accounts are provided in the volumes of Mildred
Cable and Francesca French entitled “Through
Jade Gate and Central Asia,** London: Constable
(1927); “A Desert Journal: Letters from Central
Asia,** London: Constable (1934); and “The Gobi
Desert,** London: Hodder and Stoughton (1943).
Owen Lattimobb*8 contributions include “The
Desert Road to Turkestan,** London: Methuen
(1928); China Opens Her Wild West, National
Geographic Magazine, LXXXII (1942), 837-367;
Caravan Routes of Inner Asia, Geographical Journal,
LXXII (1928); and Origins of the Great Wall of
China: A Frontier Concept in Theory and Practice,
Geographical Review, XXVII (1987), 529-549. Reports
of an experienced traveler are contained in Eric
Teichman’s The Motor Road from Peking to
Kashgar, Geographical Journal, LXXXIX (1937),
297-308; and in his “Journey to Turkistan,** London:
Hodder (1937).

Tibet

The plateau of Tibet has been the object of more
exploration than any other part of the continent, and
there is a voluminous literature including many
articles in the Geographical Journal and an extensive
series by Joseph F. Rock in the National Geographic
Magazine since 1924. Detailed studies in southeastern
Tibet have been carried on by F. Kingdon Ward,
largely published in the Geographical Journal, and
by J. W. and C. J. Gregory. Sven Hedin*b
explorations are the subject of numerous volumes.
Conditions in the northwest are described by Robert
B. Ekvall: “Cultural Relations on the Kansu-
Tibetan Border,** University of Chicago Publications
in Anthropology, Occasional Papers, No. 1 (1939).
The area adjoining Szechwan is covered by J. Hanson-
Lowe: a Journey along the Chinese Tibetan Border,
Geographical Journal, XCV (1940), 357-367; and
Notes on the Climate of the South Chinese-Tibetan

SiLggested Readings 555

Borderland/’ Oeographical Review, XXXI (1041),
444-45S. This area is also described by P. H. Steven-
son: Notes on the Human Geography of the Chinese-
Tibetan Borderland, Oeographical Review, XXII
(1032), 500-^16. The city of Lhasa has been described
repeatedly. Two of the more recent articles, beauti-
fully illustrated, are those by C. Suvdam Cutting: In
Lhasa, the Forbidden, Natural History, XXXVII
(1086), 102-126; and F. Spencer Chapman: Lhasa
in 1037, Oeographical Journal, XCI (1038), 407-507;
who has also written *Xhasa; the Holy City,”
London: Chatto (1038). Travel through the desolate
north is graphically portrayed by Peter Fleming:
“News From Tartary,” New York: Scribner (1036).
Two general volumes are those of Sir Charles Bell,
temporary British resident in Lhasa, entitled “Tibet,
Past and Present,” Oxford: Clarendon Press (1024);
and “The People of Tibet,” Oxford: Clarendon
Press (1028). An American expedition in eastern Tibet
is pictured by Richard L. Burdsall and Terris
Moore: Climbing Mighty Minya Konka, National
Geographic Magazine, LXXXIII (1043), 626-650.

CHAPTER 0. CHINA IN THE NEW WORLD

Problems of industrial development are considered
in Sun Yat-sen: “The International Development
of China,” New York: Putnam (1020); and H. D.
Fong: “The Post-war Industrialization of China,”
New York: National Planning Association (1042).
Conditions before the Japanese invasion are dealt
with in the “Report of the American Economic
Mission to the Far East,” New York: National
Foreign Trade Council (1035); and Kate L. Mitch-
ell: “Industrialization in the Western Pacific,” New
York: Institute of Pacific Relations (1042). The
various publications of the Institute of Pacific
Relations contain numerous articles.

Details of foreign trade may be found in the annual
and decennial reports of the Chinese Maritime
Customs, or in the China Year Book, See also Charles
K. Moser: “Where China Buys and Sells,” Washing-
ton: Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
(1035),

THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

General Referencee on Japan

The annual Japan Yearbook published in 1041 as
the East Asia Yearbook, Tokyo, includes a thousand
pages of statistics on commerce, agriculture, cities,
mining, and industry. Information on specific places,
in Baedeker style, will be found in “An OflScial
Guide to Japan,” Tokyo: The Japanese Government
Railways (1033). The Third Pacific Science
Congress, meeting in Tokyo in 1026, published a

set of Guide Books, three volumes of Proceedings,
and a summary on “Scientific Japan.”

Current material on many economic aspects is
prepared by the Institute of Pacific Relations,
either in the indispensable Far Eastern Survey, pub-
lished fortnightly in New York, the quarterly Pacific
Affairs, or the biannual Problems of the Pacific,
Asia Magazine, the National Geographic Magazine,
and Amerasia are useful. The September, 1036, issue
of Fortune is devoted to Japan. Several Japanese
newspapers issue large annual supplements in English,
notably the Tokyo Nichi-Nichi and the Osaka Maini-
chi. Problems of population, agriculture, industry,
and trade are considered by E. B. Schumpeter:
“The Industrialization of Japan and Manchukuo,
1030-1040,” New York: Macmillan (1040).

The two best American studies are Glenn T.
Trewartha: A Reconnaissance Geography of Japan,
University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences
and History, No. 22 (1034); Guy-Harold Smith and
Dorothy Good with Shannon McCune: “Japan,
A Geographical View,” New York: American Geo-
graphical Society (1043). A more general study is
John F. Embree: The Japanese, Smithsonian Insti-
tution War Background Studies, VII (1043).

An excellent geographic analysis is that by Jules
Sion in the Geographic universelle series, “Asie des
moussons,” Paris: Librairie Armand Colin (1028) I,
180-266. The observations of a former British Con-
sular officer in the Orient are in Archibald Little:
“The Far East,” Oxford: Clarendon Press (1005),
270-317. K. OsEKi has written The Economic Geog-
raphy of Japan, Scottish Geographical Magazine,
XXXI (1015), 440-465, 510-531. Interesting books
of travel are Harry Franck: “Glimpses of Japan
and Formosa,” New York: Century (1024) ; and W. H.
Murray Walton: “Scrambles in Japan and For-
mosa,” London: E. Arnold & Co. (1034). Two
thoughtful contributions by Inazo Nitobe are
“Japan, Some Phases of Her Problems and Develop-
ment,” London: Benn (1031); and “Lectures on
Japan; An Outline of the Development of Japanese
People and Their Culture,” London: Benn (1037).
Historical references include G. B. Sansom: “Japan,
A Short Cultural History,” London: The Cresset
Press (1031); Joseph H. Longford: “The Evolution
of New Japan,” New York: Putnam (1013); and
Helen Pratt: “Japan, Where Ancient Loyalties
Survive,” New York: American Council, Institute
of Pacific Relations (1037).

The following lists do not include references to the
many excellent studies in Japanese, often with English
summaries, in the Geographical Review of Japan and
the Japanese Journal of Geology and Geography, or
to less accessible foreign literature.

Suggested Readings

556

CHAPTER 10. JAPAN’S NATURAL
FOUNDATIONS

Maps

The best physical map of the Japanese Empire is
published by the KoEtiaA.! Bunka Shinkokai (The
Society for International Cultural Belations) in
Tokyo (1987), on a scale of 1:2,000,000. An earlier
wall map was issued in 1931 by the Land Survey
Department, on a scale of 1:2,000,000. An excep-
tionally fine “Map of Land Utilization’* has been
prepared by Kan-Ichi Uchida, Tokyo: The Kobun-
sha Co., scale 1:8,000,000. Detailed topographic
maps showing contours and culture are available on
several scales.

Land Forms

The most detailed analysis of Japanese topography
is that by Robert Burnett Hall and Akira Wata-
nabe: “Landforms of Japan,” Papers Michigan Acad-
emy of Science, Arts, and Letters, XVIII (1932),
157-207. Glenn T. Trewartha has published a brief
article accompanied by an excellent geomorphic map
by Guy-Harold Smith imder the title of Notes on a
Physiographic Diagram of Japan, Geographical Re-
view, XXIV (1934), 400-403. This map is reproduced
together with additional descriptions in Trewartha :
A Reconnaissance Geography of Japan, University
of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences and
History t No. 22 (1934). On the basis of his field studies
in Japan, Sumner W. Cushing has written on Coastal
Plains and Block Mountains in Japan, Annals
Association of American Geographers, III (1913),
43-61. Geological details may be supplied by various
maps, especially the “Geological Map of the Japanese
Empire” published by the Imperial Geological
Survey of Japan (1926), scale 1:4,000,000; and the
“ Geological Atlas of Eastern Asia,”|]scale 1 : 2,000,000,
issued by the Tokyo Geographical Society (1929).
The Imperial Geological Survey has published a
bulletin on The Geology and Mineral Resources of the
Japanese Empire (1926). Charles Davison: “The
Japanese Earthquake of 1923,” London: Thomas
Murby (1931) is an excellent treatment. Davison
has also written an article entitled The Japanese
Earthquake of 1 September, 1923, Geographical
Journal, LXV (1925), 41-61.

Climate

The standard reference on climate is T. Okada:
The Climate of Japan, Bulletin Central Meteorological
Observatory of Japan, IV (1981), 89-416. C. Warren
Thornthwaite has applied his classification in The
Climates of Japan, Geographical Review, XXIV (1934),

494-496. “World Weather Records** by H. Helm
Clayton, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections,
LXXIX and XC (1927 and 1934), is an additional
source of data.

Forests and Soils

Little has been written in English concerning the
'geographic aspects of vegetation and soils in Japan.
Conditions are summarized in Trewartha’s A Re-
connaissance Geography of Japan.

Mineral Resources

A comprehensive picture of mineral resources in
eastern Asia is contained in H. Foster Bain: “Ores
and Industry in the Par East,” New York: Council on
Foreign Relations (1933), rev. ed. John E. Orchard’s
“Japan’s Economic Position,” New York: Whittlesey
(1930), is based on a year’s field study. See also his
article Can Japan Develop Industrially? Geographical
Review, XIX (1929), 177-200. Statistical information
may be found in the United States Department
OF THE Interior: Minerals Yearbook', likewise in
The Mineral Industry, an annual edited by G. A.
Roush and published by McGraw-Hill, New York.

CHAPTER 11. THE HUMAN RESPONSE IN
JAPAN

Population Problems

A detailed evaluation of population principles
and conditions in Japan may be found in E. F.
Penrose: “Population Theories and Their Applica-
tion,” Stanford University: Food Research Institute
(1934); and in W. R. Crocker: “The Japanese
Population Problem: the Coming Crisis,” London:
Allen & Unwin (1931). Another approach is Shiroshi
Nasu: The Problem of Population and Food Supply in
Japan, “Problems of the Pacific,” Chicago: University
of Chicago Press (1928), 839-360. Population move-
ments are described by T. W. Freeman: Recent and
Contemporary Japanese Migration, Scottish Geo-
graphical Magazine, LIII (1937), 323-325; and
Ellen C. Semple: Japanese Colonial Methods,
Bulletin American Geographical Society, XLV (1913),
255-275.

^ Discussions of population distributions are con-
tained in the following: Mark Jefferson: The
Distribution of People in Japan in 1918, Geographical
Review, II (1916), 368-378; Wesley Coulter: A
Dot Map of Distributioik of Population in Japan,
Geographical Review, XVI (1926), 283-284; and John
E. Orchard: The Pressure of Population in Japan,
Geographical Review, XVIII (1928), 874-401. The best
analysis of geographical evolution is Carl W. Bishop:
The Historical Geography of Early Japan, Geo-
graphical Review, XIII (1923), 49-62,

Suggested Readings

558

Study of a Specialised Apple District in Northern
Honshu, Japan, Annala Association of American
Geographers, XX (1930), 196-223.

CHAPTER 13. REGIONS OF OUTER JAPAN
Hokkaido

Several articles by Dabbell H. Davis are the result
of his field work: Type Occupance Patterns in Hok-
kaido, Annals Association of American Geographers,
XXIV (1934), 201-223; Present Status of Settlement
in Hokkaido, Geographical Review, XXIV (1934),
886-399; and Agricultural Occupation of Hokkaido,
Economic Geography, X (1934), 348-367. Conditions
in 1920 are considered by Wellington D. Jones:
Hokkaido, the Northland of Japan, Geographical
Review, XI (1921), 16-30.

KarafiUo

The following article covers both Japanese and
Soviet parts of Sakhalin: Hebman R. Fbiis: Pioneer
Economy of Sakhalin Island, Economic Geography,
XV (1939), 55-79. A special chapter in the Japan-
Manohouktuo Yearbook is devoted to Karafuto.

Korea

Hoon K. Lee has a detailed volume entitled **Land
Utilization and Rural Economy in Korea,*" published
under the auspices of the Institute of Pacific Rela-
tions, Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh (1936). General
geographic descriptions are provided by J. Weight
Baylob: The Geography of Chosen, Economic Geog-
raphy, VII (1931), 238-251; John W^esley Coulteb
and Bebnice Bong Hee Kim: Land Utilization Maps
of Korea, Geographical Review, XXIV (1934), 418-422;
and In the Diamond Mountains: Adventures among
the Buddhist Monasteries of Eastern Korea, by
Lobd Cubzon; National Geographic Magazine, XLVI
(1924), 353-374. Another reference is W. Ladejinsky:
Chosen’s Agriculture and Its Problems, Foreign
AgricvUure, IV (1940), 95-122. See also the various
annual reports of the Govebnment Genebal of
Chosen. Shannon McCune has contributed a
number of articles on Korea including Chosen,
Japan’s Continental Possession, Journal of Geog-
raphy, XXXIV (1935), 305-317; Climatic Regions
of Korea and Their Economy, Geographical Review,
XXXI (1941), 95-99; Recent Development of
P’yongyang, Korea, Economic Geography, XLX
(1943), 148-155; Notes on a Physiographic Diagram
of Tyosen (Korea), with Abthub H. Robinson,
Geographical Review, XXXI (1941), 653-658; and
three bulletins on the Climate of Korea, Research
Monographs on Korea (1941).

Formosa

No adequate literature is available, but descriptive
material is in E. H. de Bunsen: Formosa, Geographi-
cal Journal, LXX (1927), 266-287; W. Campbell:
Formosa under the Japanese, Scottish Geographical
Magazine, XVIII (1902), 561-576; and the Japan
Manchoukuo Yearbook.

South Seas

Two studies are Yukuo Uyehaba: Ryukyu Islands,
Japan, Economic Geography, IX (1933), 395-405; and
B. H. Chambeblin: The Luchu Islands and Their
Inhabitants, Geographical Journal, V (1895), 289-
319, 446-462, 534-545. Thr^ volumes that describe
conditions in the Mandated Islands are Paul H.
Clyde: “Japan’s Pacific Mandate,’’ New York:
Macmillan (1935); Tadao Yanaihaba: “Pacific
Islands under Japanese Mandate,’’ New York:
Institute of Pacific Relations (1939); and Gebald
Samson: “Warning Lights of Asia,’’ London: R. Hale
(1940).

CHAPTER 14. JAPAN’S WORLD POSITION

International relations and foreign trade are de-
scribed in the following references: John C. Le Claib:
Japan’s Trade with the Netherlands Indies, Foreign
Affairs, XV (1987), 881-383; Emil Ledebeb: Japan
in World Economics, Social Research, IV (1937),
1-82; and John Obchabd: Economic Consequences of
Japan’s Asiatic Policy, Foreign Affairs, XII (1933),
71-85. An evaluation of Japan’s economic status is
A. E. Pabkins: How Big Is Japan? Economic Geog-
raphy, XI (1935), 338-346; and Fbeda Utley:
“Japan’s Feet of Clay,” London: Faber (1936).
Much valuable material is in the Far Eastern Survey.
An excellent cultural evaluation of Japan is contained
in Will Dubant: “The Story of Civilization,”
New York: Simon & Schuster (1935), 826-938.

THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST
REPUBLICS

CHAPTER 15. THE SOVIET REALM
General References on the Soviet Union

The preparation of the Soviet chapters involved
an extensive bibliography in Russian but, since the
material is not easily available, the following notations
are largely limited to references in English.

Few texts on Europe or Asia give adequate atten-
tion to the U.S.S.R. Two thoughtful chapters are in
Samuel Van Valkenbubg and Ellswobth Hunt-
ington: “Europe,” New York: Wiley (1935); and a
somewhat longer treatment may be found in Geobge
D. Hubbabd: “Geography of Europe,” New York:

Suggested Readings

Appleton-Century (1987). An excellent analysis is
that by P. Camena D’Almeida: “Etats de la Bal-
tique, Russie” (1982), in the French series entitled
** Geographic universelle.” A similar survey is pro-
vided in four sections of the “ Klute Handbuch.** In
** Mitteleuropa, Osteuropa,” Potsdam (1988), are
articles by Max Friedebichsen: Das Europiiische
Russland, 821-484; and Bruno Plaetschke: Die
Kaukasuslander, 485-464. The volume “Nordasien,
Zentral-und Ostasien,” Potsdam (1987), contains
Helmut Anger: Siberien, 125-210; and Arved
Schultz: Russisch Turkestan, 211-244.

The best geographical material from the Soviet
viewpoint are the volumes by Nicholas Mikhailov
entitled “Soviet Geography,” London: Methuen
(1985); and “Land of the Soviets,” New York:
Furman (1989). Geographic ideology is presented in
a chapter by Vladimir Romm entitled Geographic
Tendencies in the Soviet Union, in Samuel N.
Harper: “The Soviet Union and World-problems,”
Chicago: University Press (1935). There is a short
but very worth-while article with maps by Benjamin
Semenov-Tian-Shansky: Russia: Territory and
Population, Geographical Review, XVII (1928),
616-640.

Unsurpassed cartographic information dealing
with all aspects of geography is available in the first
and second volumes of the “Great Soviet World
Atlas,” Moscow (1938 and 1940), with a translation
volume by George B. Cressey. A convenient refer-
ence for place names is the Literary Digest “ Map
of the U.S.S.R.,” New York: Funk (1984). Current
Russian literature and maps may be obtained from
the Four Continent Book Corporation, 255 Fifth
Avenue, New York City. The American Russian
Institute published a useful map in 1942 which
indicates changes in place names together with new
rivers and industrial developments. Two small con-
venient atlases of economic information with sup-
plementary text are “Soviet Russia in Maps,”
Chicago: Denoyer-Geppert (1942); and Jasper H.
Stembridge: “An Atlas of the XJ.S.S.R.,” New York:
Oxford University Press (1942).

Among the many histories of Russia, one of the
best is D. S. Mibsky: “Russia, A Social History,”
New York: Appleton-Century (1932). Recent bound-
ary changes are described by J. A. Morrison:
Territorial-administrative Structure of the U.S.S.R.,
American Quarterly on the Soviet Union, I (1938),
25-58. The quest of the Russian bear for warm water
is described in Robert J. Kerner: “The Urge to the
Sea: the Course of Russian History,” Berkeley:
University of California Press (1942).

A comprehensive review is provided by P. Melbv-
bet-Malevitch: “Russia U.S.S.R.,” New York: W.

559

F. Payson (1933). Karl Baedeker's “Russia,”
Leipzig: Baedeker (1914) is old but indispensable for
detailed travel information. Current information is
available from the American Russian Institute,
particularly their publication entitled The American
Review on the Soviet Union.

CHAPTER 16. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
IN THE SOVIET UNION

The best reference in Russian on environmental
conditions is L. S. Berg: “Priroda S.S.S.R.” (The
Natural Regions of the U.S.S.R.), Moscow and
Leningrad (1937). Among Professor Berg’s other
volumes is one entitled “Geographical Zones of the
U.S.S.R., Part I, Introduction, Tundra, The Forest
Zone,” Leningrad (1930). There is a vast amount of
comprehensive material in the series entitled “Refer-
ence Books on the Water Resources of the U.S.S.R.,”
issued for various regions by the Hydrological
Service since 1986.

Geology

The extensive literature on Soviet geology is well
summarized in the various guidebooks, reports, and
other publications of the Seventeenth Interna-
tional Geological Congress, Moscow (1937);
especially in the article by A. D. Abkhanguelbky:
Structure g^ologique et histoire g^ologique de
rURSS in Vol. II of the Report, 285-304. Arkhan-
guelsky has also written a guidebook for the Second
International Congress of Soil Science, Moscow
(1930), entitled “Outline of the Structure and
History of the Russian Platform,” V. A. Obruchev:
“Geology of Siberia” is available in a German
edition (1926) and in Russian (1935-1936). The
first volume of Kurt Leuchs: “G6ologie von Asien”
is devoted to northern Asia. The best summary
of glaciation is I. P. Gerasimov and K. K. Markov:
“The Glacial Period in the Territory of the U.S,6rR.”
(in Russian with a 20-page English summary);
see review in Geographical Review, XXXI (1941),
343-345. Permanently frozen ground is described
in George B. Cressey: Frozen Ground in Siberia,
Journal of Geology, XLVII (1939), 472-488. Volumes
II and III of “The Face of the Earth” by Eduard
S uESS contain old but significant comments on
Russia.

Land Form Regions

Only scattered material is available on regional
geomorphology, but the following articles clear up
the structure of northeastern Siberia: S. V. Obruchev
and K. A. Salishchev: The Mountain Systems of
Northeastern Asia, Geographical Review, XXV (1935),
625-642; and V. A. Obruchev: The Yablonovi and

Suggested Readings

tm-'

Stanovoi Banges in the Light of New Data, Ge<h
graphical Journal, LXXXVI (1035), 429H140. The
most authoritative statement in Russian b by B.
Th. Dobrynin: Geomorphological Divisions of
European IJ.S.S.R., presented to the International
Geographical Congress, Warsaw (1934).

Climaie

The most detailed climatic study is A. V. Voz-
nesensky: “Map of the Climates of the U.S.S.R.,”
(in Russian with English summary), Leningrad:
Transactions Bureau of Agro-Meteorology, XXI
(1030). The section of the “ Koeppen-Geiger Hand-
buch** on Klimakunde von Russland (in Europa und
Asien) contains tables and a map of climatic regions.
Kendrew’s “Climates of the Continents” has a
chapter on the Russbn Empire. Two articles by
STANiSLAtrs Novakovsky deal with the human
climatology: The Effect of Climate on the Efficiency
of the People of the Russian Far East, Ecology, III
(1022), i75-%8S; and Arctic or Siberian Hysterb as a
Reflex of the Geographic Environment, Ecology, V
(1024), 113-127. A brief summary of the environment
is in L. I. Prasolov: The Climate and Soils of North-
ern Eurasia as Conditions of Colonization, in “ Pioneer
Settlement” issued by the American Geographical
Society, New York (1932), 240-260.

Natural Vegetation

William Seifriz has written a series of articles
entitled Sketches of the Vegetation of Some Southern
Provinces of Soviet Russia, in the Journal of Ecology,
XIX (1081), 360-871, 372-382; XX (1932), 58-68,
60-77, 78-88; XXIII (1985), 140-146, 147-160, See
also Boris A. Keller: Distribution of Vegetation
on the Pbins of Southern Russb, Journal of Ecology,
XV (1027), 180-233. There is a good description of
European forests in Raphael Zon and W. N. Spar-
hawk: “Forest Resources of the World,” 1, New
York: McGraw-Hill (1023). Descriptions of dry -land
forests may be foimd in G. N. Vyssotsky: Shelterbelts
in the Steppes of Russia, Journal of Forestry, XXXIH
(1985), 781-788; and N. T. Mirov: Two Centuries
of Afforestation and Sheiterbelt Planting on the
Russian Steppes, Journal of Forestry, XXXIll
(1035), 071-073.

Soils

“The Great Soil Groups of the World and Their
Development” written in Russian by J. D. Glinka
has been translated by Curtis F. Marbut, Ann
Arbor: Edwards Bros. (1027). Numerous articles
on soib and related geographic problems were pub-
lished in the Proceedings and Guidebooks of the Second

International Congress of Soil Science, Moscow
(1030).

CHAPTER 17. MINERAL RESOURCES IN THE
SOVIET UNION

Some of the best material is that issued in connec-
tion with the Seventeenth International Geological
Congress, including an expected volume on “Petro-
leum Resources of the World.” A bulletin prepared by
M. M. Priqorovsky is entitled “The Coal Resources
of the U.S.S.R.” Three of the delegates subsequently
wrote of their obser/ations: Cyril Fox: Mineral
Development in Soviet Russia, Transactions Mining,
Geological, and Metallurgical Institute of India,
XXXIV (1938) part 2, 100-201; E.L. Bruce: Mineral
Deposits of the Southern Ukraine and of the Ural
Mountains, Canadian Mining and Metallurgical
Bulletin, CCCXIX (1938), 505-528; and Tom
Edwards: The Mineral Deposits of the U.S.S.R.,
The Mining Magazine, LVIII (1988), 265-279,
335-343.

The United Geological and Prospecting
Service of the U.S.S.R. issued two bulletins in
1933, Mineral Resources of the U.S.S.R. and Power
Resources of the U.S.S.R. A comprehensive volume
entitled “Electric Power Development in the U.S.-
S.R.,** which includes both coal and water resources,
was prepared by the Kkzizhanovbky Power Insti-
tute of the Academy of Sciences in 1936.

The' latest information on various products is
available in The Minerals Industry, McGraw-Hill
(annual). There is an excellent series on lead and zinc
in The Metalliferous Altai of Soviet Russia by
Andrew and Edith Meyer in the Engineering and
Mining Journal, CXXXVII (1936), 275-278, 348-
853, 468-472, 476, 515-520. A comprehensive article
on Russian aluminum is R. J. Anderson: Russian
Aluminum, The Mining Magazine, LVIII (1938),
73-86. The United States Bureau of Mines has
prepared an article on Mineral Production and Trade
of the U.S.S.R. (Russia), Foreign Minerals Quarterly,
I, No. 2 (1088), 1-72. A comprehensive report now
somewhat out of date is The Petroleum Resources of
Russia by Arthur Huber Redfield, Bulletin Ameri-
can Association of Petroleum Geologists, II (1927),
498-513.

CHAPTER 18. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE SOVIET UNION

Interesting accounts of economic developments
during the early five-year plans are contained in the
volume by the former Christian Science Monitor
correspondent, yViULiAM H. Chamberlin: “Russia’s
Iron Age,” Boston: Little (1934); the report of an
engineer, Alcan Hirsch: “Industrialized Russia,”

Suggested Readings

New York: Reinhold Publishing Corp. (1934); and
Calvin B. Hoover: “The Economic Life of Soviet
Russia,*’ New York: Macmillan (1981). Current
developments are reported in the U.S. Bureau op
Foreign Commerce Foreign Commerce Weekly and
its predecessor, Rueaian Economic Notes. The Ameri-
can-Russian Chamber of Commerce published a
“Handbook of the Soviet Union” in 1935. William
Mandel has written on Soviet Transport, Today
and Tomorrow in The American Review on the Soviet
Union, III (1941), 28-45.

Agriculture

Specialized material on agriculture is contained
in two publications by Vladimir P. Timoshenko:
“Agricultural Russia and the Wheat Problem,”
Stanford University: Fodd Research Institute (1932);
and “Russia as a Producer and Exporter of Wheat,”
Stanford University: Food Research Institute (1932).
Changes in farming are described by W. Ladejinsky:
Collectivization of Agriculture in thfe Soviet Union,
Political Science Quarterly, XLIX (1934), 1-43,
207-252; and Soviet State Farms, Political Science
Quarterly, LIII (1938), 60-82, 207-232. Critical
conditions in the south are presented by N. M.
Tulaikov: Agriculture in the Dry Region of the
U.S.S.R., Economic Oeogfaphy, VI (1930)i 54-80.
Curtis F. Marbut, former Chief of the U.S. Bureau
of Soils, has written two articles growing out of his
visit to the Second International Soil Congress, Russia
and the United States in the World’s Wheat Market,
Geographical Review, XXI (1931), 1-21; and Agricul-
ture in the United States and Russia, Geographical
Review, XXI (1931), 598-612. In this connection
there is a valuable comment by V. P. Timoshenko:
The Expansion of the Wheat Area in Arid Russia,
Geographical Review, XXIII (1933), 479-481. Condi-
tions in the late 1930’s are described by Lazar Volin:
Recent Developments in Soviet Agriculture, Foreign
Agriculture, 1 (1937), 3-28; Effects of the Drought
and Purge on the Agriculture of the Soviet Union,

III (1939), 175-196; The Russian Peasant House-
hold under the Mir and the Collective Farm System,

IV (1940), 133-146.

CHAPTER 19. REGIONS OF
SOVIET EUROPE

Regional references on Soviet Europe, which will
not be repeated under the various regions, include
Mikhailov, Hubbard, D’Almeida, and Friederich-
REN. Another excellent source is L. S. Berg: “The
Natural Regions of the U.S.S.R.,” in Russian.
Baedeker’s “Russia” is invaluable for city maps and
travel information. Excursion guidebooks for the
Seventeenth International Geological Congress deal

561

with the Caucasus, the Urals, Kola-Karelia, Moscow,
the Petroleum Areas, the Ukraine and Crimea, Nova
Zemlya, and Siberia.

Ukrainia

Farming conditions are described in Louis G.
Michael: The Soviet Ukraine — Its People and
Agriculture, Foreign Agriculture, III (1939), 281-
306. Two articles on mineral wealth are those by
Stanislaus Novakovski: Natural Resources of
Ukraine, Journal of Geography, XXIII (1924), 293-
300; and E. L. Bruce: Mineral Deposits of the South-
ern Ukraine and of the Ural Mountains, Canadian
Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin, CCCXIX (1938),
505-523. Historical and political aspects are provided
in “The Ukraine” by W. E. D. Allen, Cambridge:
University Press (1940); and in A. S. Elwell-
Sutton: The Ukraine, Contemporary Remew, CLV
(1939), 681-690.

Kola-Karelian Taiga

Conditions of vegetation are considered by William
Seifriz: The Plant Life of Russian Lapland, Ecology,
XV (1934), 306-318; and R. Ruggles Gates: Notes
on the Tundra of Russian Lapland, Journal of
Ecology, XVI (1928), 150-160. The exploitation of the
potash deposits is described in the small volume by
A. E. Fersman: “The Scientific Study of Soviet
Mineral Resources,” Moscow (1935). Economic
developments are considered by William O. Field,
Jk.: The Kola Peninsula, American Quarterly on the
Soviet Union, I (1938), 3-21.

Dvina-Pechora Taiga

Forest and lumbering possibilities are dealt with by
John D. Gutherie: Some Notes on the Forests of
Northern Russia, Journal of Forestry, XXII (1924),
197-204; and Edward P. Stebbing: The Forest
Region of North East Russia and Its Importance to
Great Britain, Geographical Journal, LI (1918),
359-374. An interesting account of travel from Lenin-
grad to the Dvina River is David R. Buxton: A
Journey in Northern Russia, Blackvx)od*s Magazine,
CCXXXIV (1933), 149-174.

Central Agricultural Region
M. Melvin A Svec has written a travel account en-
titled Voyaging down the Volga, Journal of Geography,
XXXVIII (1939), 297-304. For a general survey see
St. Kolupaila and M. Parde: La Volga, 5tude
hydrologique, Annales de giographie, XLIII (1934),
32-48.

Southern Agricultural Region

Problems in cultivating the steppe regions of
the lower Volga are covered in N. M. Tulaikov:

562 Suggested Readings

Agriculture in the Dry Region of the U.S.S.R.,
Economic Geography , VI (1930), 54-80.

The Ural Mountains

The geological history of the Urals is outlined by
Anatole Safonov: Orogeny of the Urals, Bulletin
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, XXI
(1937), ,1439-1463. The development of Magnitogorsk
is described by John Scott in “Beyond the Urals,”
Boston: Houghton (1942); and Magnetic City, Core
of Valiant Russia’s Industrial Might, National Geo-
graphic Magazine, LXXXIII (1943), 525-556.

CHAPTER 20. REGIONS OF
SOVIET MIDDLE ASIA

In addition to general references such as Mikhailov,
D’Almeida, and Bero, suggestive material wiU
be found in Lionel W. Lyde: “The Continent of
Asia,” London: MacMillan (1933). One of the best
sources is the volume by A. Woeikof of St. Peters-
burg entitled “Le Turkestan Russe,” Paris (1914).
The best references in German are Arvbd Schultz:
“Die Naturlichen Landschaften von Russisch-
Turkestan,” Hamburg: Friederichsen (1920); and his
section in the “Klute Handbuch” on “Russisch
Turkestan”; and Fritz Machatschek: “Landes-
kunde von Russisch Turkistan,” Stuttgart (1921).

Caucasia

Two excellently illustrated articles dealing with
modern conditions are those by John Lehman:
Change in the Caucasus, Geographical Magazine, II
(1935), 125-141; and John R. Jenkins: Climbing in
the Caucasus, Geographical Magazine, VII (1938),
55-72. One of the excellent series of botanical studies
by William Seifriz is entitled Vegetation Zones
in the Caucasus, Geographical Review, XXVI (1936),
59-66. The history of political complications is con-
sidered by ViuAAKU O. Field, Jr.: The International
Struggle for Transcaucasia, American Quarterly on
the Soviet Union, II (1939), 21-44. A journey in 1925
is described by Fridtjof Nansen; “Through the
Caucasus to the Volga,” New York: Norton (1931).
The “Klute Handbuch” has a section on “Die
Kaukasuslander” by Bruno Plaetschke; and
Petermann*s Mitteilungen, Erganzungscheft 189
(1926), is on Transkaukasien by Anton Budel.

Caspian Desert

ELiiswoRTH Huntington reviews the problem of
climatic changes in an article entitled Fluctuations
in the Caspian Sea, Bulletin American Geographical
Society, XXXIX (1907), 577-596. The problem of
agriculture in the lower Volga is considered briefly by
W. C. Lowdermilk and N. Mirov: Irrigation in the

Caspian Lowlands, Geographical Reviewt XXllI
(1933), 336-337. Petroleum production northeast
of the Caspian is described by C. W. Sanders:
Emba Salt Dome Region, Bulletin American Associa-
tion of Petroleum Geologists, XXIII (1939), 492-516.
Conditions in the northeast are pictured by Irvine C.
Gardner: Observing an Eclipse in Asiatic Russia,
National Geographic Magazine, LXXl (1937), 179-197.

Pamirs and Associated Ranges.

In 1903 the Carnegie Institution sent an expedition
to the mountains and delerts of Central Asia under
Raphael Pumpelly, William M. Davis, and
Ellsworth Huntington, whose report is “Explora-
tions in Turkestan,” Washington (1905). Ellsworth
Huntington has also written The Mountains of
Turkestan, Geographical Journal, XXV (1905),
22-40, 139-158; and The Mountains and Kibitkas of
Tian Shlin, Bulletin American Geographical Society,
XXXVII (1905), 513-530. William M. Davis has
further described his travel in A Summer in Turke-
stan, Bulletin American Geographical Society, XXXVI
(1904), 217-218. An expedition under W. Rickmer
Rickmers is described in The Alai-Pamirs in 1913
and 1928, Geographical Journal, LXXIV (1929),
209-281.

Turan Oases and Deserts

Geographic conditions in the deserts and oases of
Turan are described by Albrecht Penck: Central
Asia, Geographical Journal, LXXVI (1930), 477-487;
and W. Rickmer Rickmers: “The Duab of Turke-
stan,” London: Cambridge University Press (1913).
Agricultural developments are considered by Valen-
tine V. Tchikoff; The Cotton Empire of the U.S.S.R.,
Asia, XXXIl (1932), 255-263; Lyman D. Wilbur:
Surveying through Khoresm, National Geographic
Magazine, LXI (1932), 753-780; and Arthur P.
Davis: Irrigation in Turkestan, CivU Engineering, II
(1932), 1-5. Other agricultural developments are
reported in Robert K. Nabours: The Land of
Lambskins, National Geographic Magazine, XXXVI
(1919), 77-88. Animal life is described by Daniel
Kashkarov and Victor Kurbatov: Preliminary Eco-
logical Survey of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Central
Kara-Kum Desert in West Turkestan, Ecology, XI
(1930), 35-60. Conditions in Kazakhstan are dealt with
by Allan Mozley: The Ponds, Lakes, and Streams
of the Kirghiz Steppe, Scottish Geographiced Magazine,
LIII (January 1937), 1-10. Elizabeth W. Clark has
written a brief article entitled Golden Samarkand,
Hoine Geographic Monthly (November, 1932),. 37-42.
General travel accounts may be found in Bobworth
Goldman: “Red Road through Asii^” London:
Methuen (1934); Ella K. Maillart: “Turkestan

Suggested Readings

Solo,” New York: Puimm (19S5); Ella R. Christie:
“Through Khiva to Golden Samarkand,” London:
Seeley Service (195W); and Egon Erwin Kisch:
” Changing Asia,” New York: Knopf (1985).

CHAPTER 21. REGIONS OF
SOVIET SIBERIA

Developments during the first two five-year plans
are described in articles by George B. Crbssey:
News From Siberia, Harper's Magazine^ CLXXVII
(1938), 148-157; and Pioneering in. Yeniseiland,.
(incorrectly spelled ” Yeneseiland”), Journal of the
Scientific Laboratories^ Denison University, XXIV
(1939), 103-169. An earlier account is George
Frederick Wright: “Asiatic Russia,” New York:
McClure, Phillips (1902). Boris Baievsky has a
general article entitled Siberia — -The Storehouse of the
Future, Economic Geography^ III (1927), 167-192.
Economic developments are covered in numerous
short articles in the fortnightly Far Eastern Survey
published by the Institute of Pacific Relations.
The mineral wealth of Siberia is described by P. P.
Goudkoff: Economic Geography of the Coal Re-
sources of Asiatic Russia, Geographical Review^ XIII
(1923), 283-293. Conditions under czarist rule are
described by George Kennan in Siberia — The
Exiles* Abode, Journal American Geographical
Society, XIV (1882), 13-68.

Standard German sources are Arved Schultz:
“Siberien,** Breslau: Ferdinand Hirt (1923); Erich
Thiel: “Verkehrsgeographie von Russisch-Asien,**
Berlin: Ost-Europa-verlag (1934); and Helmut
Anger: “Siberien** in the “Klute Handbuch.”

Two volumes that describe Siberia just prior to the
Second World War are R. A*. Davies and Andrew
J. Steiger: “Soviet Asia,” New York: Dial Press
(1942); and Emil Lengyel: “Siberia,** New York:
Random House (1943).

Yenisei Taiga

Fridtjof Nan8En*8 trip up the Yenisei in 1913
is described in “Through Siberia, The Land of the
Future,** London: Heinemann (1914). Volumes by
modem travelers are Bosworth Goldman: “Red
Road through Asia,** London: Methuen (1934);
H, P. Smolka: “Forty Thousand against the Arctic,**
London: Hutchinson (1937); and Ruth Gruber: “I
Went to the Soviet Arctic,** New York: Simon &
Schuster (1939). A detailed study of the entire Yenisei
Valley is presented by George B. Cresset in Pio-
neering in Yeniseiland. Life among the Nentsi is
described by H. U. Hall: A Siberian Wilderness:
Native Life on the Lower Yenisei, Geographical
Review, V (1918), 1-21. A trip to Igarka and up the
Yenisei is described by Bosworth Goldman: The

568

Arctic Gateway to Siberia, Geographical Magazine,
II (1936), 281-245; and a brief description of a trip
down the Yenisei is provided by A. J. Steiger: The
Mighty Yenesei, Asia, XXXVII (1937), 510-513.

Arctic Fringe

In addition to “Forty Thousand against the
Arctic,** H. P. Smolka has written two other studies
entitled The Economic Development of the Soviet
Arctic, Geographical Journal, LXXXIX (1937), 327-
343; and Soviet Strategy in the Arctic, Foreign Affairs,
XVI (1938), 272-278. Ruth Gruber’s “I Went to
the Soviet Arctic” contains extensive travel informa-
tion. Another travel volume is Leonard Matters:
“Through the Kara Sea,** Shefiington (1932). The
U.S.S.R. Council of the Institute op Pacific
Relations has published a report by Semion Jopfb
entitled “The Northern Sea Route as a Transport
Problem,” (1936). The Soviet Conquest of the Far
North is the title of an article by Bruce Hopper
in Foreign Affairs, XIV (1936), 499-505. Abstracts
of papers presented at the Seventeenth International
Geological Congress on the Geology of Arctic Regions
of Eurasia are reprinted \nuie Pan-American Geologist,
LXXII (1939), 273-292.

Lena Taiga

The most recent account of the Lena Valley will
be found in Ruth Gruber’s “I Went to the Soviet
Arctic.** Conditions among the native tribes are
described by Waldemar Jochelbon: The Yakut,
Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural
History, XXXIII (1933), 35-225.

Northeastern Mountains

The discovery of the Cherski Range is described by
Sergei Obruchev: Discovery of a Great Range in
Northeast Siberia, Geographical Journal, LXX (1927),
464-470. N. Krijanovbky has listed the Volcanoes of
Kamchatka in the Bulletin Geological Society of
America, XLV (1934), 529-549. Problems of fishing
in the northwestern Pacific are covered in two
articles by Stanislaus Novakovsky: Geographic
Regions of the Fisheries in Asiatic Russia, Journal
of Geography, XXII (1932), 1-15; and by Boris
Baievsky: Fisheries of Siberia, U.S. Bureau of
Fisheries Document 1006, (1926), 37-64.

The Far East

Three reports by the U.S.S.R. Council of the
Institute op Pacific Relations in 1936 provide a
comprehensive picture of the Amur Basin: “Nature
and Natural Resources of the Soviet Far East’*;
A. Tbymek: “The Forest Wealth of the Soviet Far
East and its Exploitation”; and E. Raikhman and

564

Suggested Readings

B, Vvisoenskt: “The Economic Development of
the Soviet Far East.” Stanislaus Novakovskt has
written three articles on climatic conditions: Climatic
Provinces of the Russian Far East in Relation to
Human Activities* Oeographical Review^ XII (1922),
100-115; The Probable Effect of the Climate of the
Russian Far East on Human Life and Activity,
Ecology, HI (1922), 181-201; and The Effect of
Climate oh the Efficiency of the People of the Russian
Far East, Ecology, III (1922), 275-288. Fridtjof
Nansen: “Through Siberia, the Land of the Future”
describes conditions in 1918. Material on Sakhalin
includes articles by H. R. Funs: Pioneer Economy
of Sakhalin Island, Economic Geography, XV (1939),
55-79; Giichiro Kobayashi: Preliminary Report
on the Geology of the Oil Fields in North Sakhalin,
Bulletin American Association of Petroleum Geol-
ogists, X (1926), 1150-1162; and I. P. Tolmachoff:
The Results of Oil Prospecting on Sakhalin Island
by Japan in 1919-25, Bulletin American Association
of Petroleum Geologists, X (1926), 1163-1170. A
comprehensive analysis of economic and cultural
developments is provided in William Mandel:
“The Soviets in the Far I^st,” New York: Institute
of Pacific Relations (1943).

SOUTHWESTERN ASIA

CHAPTER 22. THE SOUTHWESTERN REALM

The best description of the realm is R. Blanchard:
“Asie occidentale,” Paris: Librairie Armand Colin
(1929); a brief but usable summary is that of Samuel
Van Valkenbubg: Agricultural Regions of Asia,
part 2 — The Near East, Economic Geography, VIH
(1982), 100-133. Portions of two volumes on the
Mediterranean Basin deal with southwestern Asia:
Ellen Churchill Semple: “The Geography of the
Mediterranean Region,” New York: Holt (1981); and
Marion Isabel Newbiqin: “Mediterranean Lands,”
New York: Crofts (1924). Isaiah Bowman has
written a stimulating article entitled The Moham-
medan World, Oeographical Review, XIV (1924),
62-74.

CHAPTER 23. TURKEY

The best regional geography of what is now Turkey,
Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Arabia is that of Ewald
Banse: “Die Tiirkei: Eine Moderne Geographie,”
Brunswick: Westermann (1919), 8d ed.; reviewed by
Ellen Churchill Semple: The Regional Geog-
raphy of Turkey: A Review of Banse’s Work, Geo-
graphical Review, XI (1921), 338-850; a shorter but
excellent treatment is by G. P. Mebriam: The
Regional Geography of Anatolia, Economic Geography,
H (1926), 90. Carl L. Stotz has contributed studies

of two areas in the vicinity of Constantinople: Life
in the Communities along Hie Bosphorus, Journal
of Geography, XXXI (1932), 181-192; and The
Bursa Region of Turkey, Oeographical Review, XXIX
(1939), 81-100. A further geographic study of a
limited area is the volume by John A. Morrison:
“Alisar: a Unit of Land Occupance in the Kanak
Su Basin of Central Anatolia,” Chicago: University
of Chicago Libraries (1939). The Black Sea fringe is
described in Ernest Nowack: Journeys in Northern
Anatolia, Geographical Review, XXI (1981), 70-
92. Leon Dominian has written The Peoples of
Northern and Central Asiatic Turkey, Bulletin
American Geographical Society, XLVII (1915),
832-871. Two articles summarize agricultural condi-
tions, G. Stratil-Sauer: Cereal Production in
Turkey, Economic Geography, IX (1933), 325-386;
and N. William Hazen: Turkish Agriculture —
Changing Agro-economic Policy, Foreign Agriculture,
IV (1940), 221-272. A general volume is G. Bie
Ravndahl: “Turkey, Commercial and Industrial
Handbook,” Washington: U.S. Department of Com-
merce (1926).

CHAPTER 24. SYRIA AND PALESTINE

Two excellent articles on the regional geography
of the northern and southern areas are Bessie L.
Ashton: The Geography of Syria, Journal of Geog-
raphy, XXVII (1928), 167-180; and D. H. Kallner
and E. Rosenau: The Geographical Regions of
Palestine, Geographical Review, XXIX (1939), 61-80.
The Syrian Landscape is the subject of an article by
Germaine Merlange in the Geographical Magazine,
XII (1940-41), 153-167. Conditions in the interior
are described by EuA Churchill Semple: The
Ancient Piedmont Route of Northern Mesopotamia,
Geographical Review, VIII (1919), 153-179; E. Ray
Casto and Oscar W. Dotson: Economic Geography
of Trans-Jordan, Economic Geography, XIV (1938),
121-130; and Howard Crosby Butler: Desert
Syria, the Land of a Lost Civilization, Oeographical
Review, IX (1920), 77-108. An XmencaTL forester,
W. C. Lowdermilk, has written The Cedars of
Lebanon, Then and Now, American Forests, XLVII
(1941), 16-20; a further study of this area is H. E.
VoKEs: Geological Observations in the Lebanon
Mountains of Western Asia, Bulletin Geological
Society of America, Lll (1941), 1715-1731.

The standard works on historical Palestine are
George Adam Smith: “The Historical Geography
of the Holy Land,” New York: Harper (1982), 25th
ed.; and his “Atlas of the Historical Geography of
the Holy Land,” London: Hodder (1915). The ques-
tion of climatic changes is considered by Ellsworth
Huntington: “Palestine and Its Transformation,”

Suggested Readings

are Annemabie Clarac-Schwarzenbach: Afghani-
stan in Transition, Geographical Magasdne, XI (1904),
S26-341; and W. K. Fbasbr-Tytleb: Afghanistan,
Scottish Geographical Magazine, LIX (194S), 1-6. The
experiences of a geologist are recorded in Ernest F.
Fox : “Travels in Afghanistan,** New York: Macmillan
(1943).

THE INDIAN REALM

Genial References on India

A general treatment of the Indian Realm will
be found in each of the standard textbooks on Asia:
L. Dudley Stamp: “Asia,** New York: Dutton
(1935), 3d ed., 173-390; L. W. Lyde: “The Continent
of Asia,** London: Macmillan (1933), 356-491; and
Daniel B. Bergsmark: “Economic Geography of
Asia,’* New York: Prentice-Hall (1935), 171-261.
In addition L. Dudley Stamp has written a useful
elementary textbook called “The Indian Empire,
Part IV, India, Burma, and Ceylon,** New York:
Longmans (1929). A wide variety of information is
contained in the first four volumes of The Imperial
Gazetteer entitled “The Indian Empire,** Oxford:
Clarendon Press (1903-1909); the annual Indian
Year Book and Whd*s Who, Bombay: Times of India
Press; John Murray: “A Handbook for Travellers
in India, Burma, and Ceylon,** London: J. Murray
(1933); and the volume on Asia of the “Oxford Survey
of the British Empire” edited by A. J. Herbertbon
and O. J. R. Howarth, Oxford: Clarendon Press
(1914). One of the best geographic evaluations of
Indian problems, internal and external, may be found
in C. B. Fawcett’s “A Political Geography of the
British Empire,” Boston: Ginn (1933). The standard
French reference is Jules Sion: “Asie des moussons,”
II, Paris; Librairie Armand Colin (1929). Vera
Anstey: “The Economic Development of India,”
London: Longmans (1929) is particularly valuable
in its field. A useful Indian treatment is that by
B. B. Mukherjee: London: Thacker (1931), entitled
^*An Economic and Commercial Geography of
India.”

CHAPTER 29. INDIA’S PHYSICAL
FOUNDATIONS

Geology and Land Forms

The standard volume is D. N. Wadia: “Geology
of India,** London: Macmillan, 2d ed. (1939).

Maps

A useful series of wall maps published by George
Philip & Son on the Indian Empire is included in
their series of “Comparative Wall Atlas Maps,”

scale 1 inch ■» 64 miles. The best large wall map is
“India and Adjacent Countries,” scale 1 inch ■= 32
miles. The standard atlas is that published as Vol.
XXVI of the “Imperial Gazetteer of India,” Oxford:
Clarendon Press, rev. ed. (1931).

Climate

A simple summary of climate may be found in
W. G. Kendrew: “The Climates of the Continents,”
Oxford: Clarendon Press (1927), 95-132. Monsoon
conditions are described by G. C. Simpson: The
South-west Monsoon, Quarterly Journal Royal
Meteorological Society, XLVII (1921), 151-172; and
upper air movements are covered by K. R. Ramana-
THAN and K. P. Ramaerishnan: The General
Circulation of the Atmosphere over India and Its
Neighbourhood, Memoirs India Meteorological De-
partment, XXVI, Part X (1939), 189-245. Rainfall
problems are described in two articles by A. V.
Williamson: The Variability of the Annual Rainfall
of India, Quarterly Journal Royal Meteorological
Society, LVII (1931), 43-56; and an article prepared
with K. G. T. Clark entitled The Rainfall Regions
of India, Geography, XVI (1931), 98-108; and in a
study by H. A. Matth,ews: A Ndw View of Some
Familiar Indian Rainfalls, Scottish Geographical
Magazine, LXIl (1936), 84-97, with a note by P. R.
Crowe on pages 187-188. Another source is Leonard
O. Packard: Response to Rainfall in India, Bulletin
American Geographical Society, XLVII (1915),
81-99. The standard map source is the “ Climatologi-
cal Atlas of India,” Edinburgh (1906).

Natural Vegetation

The best ecological analysis of vegetation is H. G.
Champion: A Preliminary Survey of the Forest Types
of India and Burma, Indian Forest Records, I, No. 1
(1936). A simple summary is provided by L. A.
Kenoyer: Plant Life of British India, Scientific
Mcmthly, XVIII (1924), 48-65.

Mineral Resources

A comprehensive treatment is provided by J.
CoGGiN Brown: “India’s Mineral Wealth,” London:
Oxford University Press (1936). There are also
valuable chapters in D. N. Wadia: “Geology of
India,”; and H. Foster Bain: “Ores and Industry
in the Far East,” New York: Council on Foreign
Relations (1933). Current production statistics will
be found in G. A. Roush, editor; The Mineral Indus-
try. New York: McGraw-Hill (1938); and in The
Minerals Yearbook published by the United States
Department of the Interior. A summary article
is Lewis Fermor: India’s Mineral Resources and the
War, Asiatic Review, December, 1940.

Suggested Readings

CHAPITER so. INDIANS PEOPLE AND
THEIR ACTIVITIES
People and Politics

The languages, religions, and population of India
are described in Vol. I of “The Indian Empire,”
Imperial Gazetteer of India. For an analysis of
city developments see Henry F. James: The Urban
Geography of India, BvUetin Geographical Society
of Philadelphia, XXVIII (19S0), 101-122. Conditions
in 1931 are described by G. Findlay Shirras: The
Census of India, 1931, Geographical Review^ XXV
(1985), 484-448. General evaluation will be found
in J. T. Dbasy: The Problems of India, Social Science,
XIV (1939), 197-217.

Agricidture

An excellent summary of Indian agriculture may be
found in three installments of Samuel Van Valken-
burg’s Agricultural Regions of Asia: India, Economic
Geography, IX (1933), 109-136; X (1934), 14-34;
and Farther India, Economic Geography, IX (1933),
1-19. An extensive analysis of land-use statistics is
presented in L. Dudley Stamp’s “Asia.” General
descriptions of agricultural problems are available in
A. and G. L. C. Howard: “The Development of
Indian Agriculture,” Oxford: University Press (1927);
Vol. Ill of “The Indian Empire’*; and the “Linlith-
gow Report” of the Royal Commission on Agri-
culture IN India. Command Paper 3132 (1928);
as well as in Chap. 4 of the “Asia” volume of the
“Oxford Survey of the British Empire.” A report
which includes much more than its title suggests is
“India as a Producer and Exporter of Wheat,”
Stanford University, Food Research Institute, III,
No. 8 (1927), 317-412. The most detailed analysis
is that by Th. H. Engelbrecht: “Die Feldfruchte
Indiens in ihrer geographischen Verbreitung,” Ham-
burg Colonial Institute, Hamburg, XIX (1914). A
useful map which indicates the extent of cultivated
land has been made by Wellington D. Jones:
An Isopleth Map of Land under Crops in India,
Geographical Review, XIX (1939), 495-496. Economic
aspects are considered by W. Ladejinsky: Agricul-
tural Problems of India, in Foreign Agriculture, HI
(1939), 321-346; and The Food Supply of India,
Foreign Agricidture, VI (1942), 265-281.

Industry and Communications

The standard treatment is Vera Anstey: “The
Economic Development of India.”

CHAPTER 31. REGIONS OF
NORTHERN INDIA

In addition to the specific material on various
regions listed below, a large amount of valuable

567

material is contained in the textbooks on Asia by
L. Dudley Stamp, L. W. Lyde, and Daniel R.
Bbrgsmark. The Indian installments on the Agri-
cultural Regions of Asia by Samuel Van Valkenburg
are especially useful. Other schemes of regional
division are described by J. N. L. Baker: Notes on
the Natural Regions of India, Geography, XIV (1928),
447-455; F. J. Richard: Cultural Regions in India,
Geography, XV (1929), 20-29; and Daniel R.
Bergbmark: The Geographic Regions of India,
Journal of Geography, XXVIII (1929), 108-122. An
Indian analysis of physiographic regions has been
prepared by M. B. Pitha walla: The Need of
Uniformity in the Geographic Divisions of India,
Journal Madras Geographical Association, XIV
(1939), 213-228; and Physiographic Divisions of
India, Journal Madras Geographical Association,
XIV (1939), 423-434.

Bengal and Orissa Lowland

There is no satisfactory treatment of the region
as such, but pertinent material will be found in the
following references: Hugh McPherson: The Indian
Province of Bihar and Orissa, Scottish Geographical
Magazine, XL VII (1931), 1-19; A. V. Williamson:
Irrigation in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, Geographical
Journal, LXV (1925), 141-153; and W. H. Wood:
Rivers and Man in the Indus-Ganges Alluvial Plain,
Scottish Geographical Magazine, XL (1924), 1-16.

Ganges Valley

This area is covered in the articles by McPherson,
Williamson, and Wood listed under the Bengal and
Orissa Lowland. The capital is described in W. J.
Grant: Delhi, the Flower of India, Geographical
Magazine, XII (1940), 132-145.

Brahmaputra Valley

Consult C. F. Jones: Tea in Assam, India, Journal
of Geography, XXIIl (1924), 181-188. ^

Indus VaJJ,ey

Geographic conditions in the Punjab are described
in two articles by R. Maclagan Gorrie: Pressure of
Population and Misuse of Land in the Punjab,
Scottish Geographical Magazine, LIV (1938), 284-295;
and Soil and Water Conservation in the Punjab,
Geographical Review, XXVIII (1938), 20-31. Addi-
tional information may be obtained from the articles
by Williamson and Wood listed imder Bengal and
Orissa Lowland. See also F. F. Fergusson: Famine
and Water Supply in Western Rajputana, Geograph-
iced Journal, XCIII (1939), 39-53.

568

Suggested Readings

Western Frontier

A brief note in the Geographical Review^ XVI (1926),
316-319 suggests the strategic significance of this
area.

Himalayan Highlands

The literature on The Himalaya is very extensive,
particularly for the less accessible areas. Almost
every volume of the Geographical Journal contains
accounts of explorations. Illustrated articles are
available in the National Geographic Magazine. The
difficulty of normal travel is pointed out by Kenneth
Mason: The Himalayas as a Barrier to Modern
Communications, Geographical Journal^ LXXXVI
(1936), 1-16. Accounts of the various Mt. Everest
expeditions will be found in the following volumes:
C. G. Bruce: “The Assault on Mt. Everest, 1922,’*
London: E. Arnold & Co. (1923); Hugh Ruttledge:
“Everest 1933,” London: Hodder (1934); Sir Francis
Younqhusband: “Everest: the Challenge,’* London:
Nelson (1936); and Hugh Ruttledge: “Everest: the
Unfinished Adventure,” L<ondon: Hodder (1937).
The account of a Swiss expedition is Arnold Heim
and August Gansser: “The Throne of the Gods,**
New York: Macmillan (1939).

CHAPTER 32. REGIONS OF PENINSULAR
INDIA

West Coast

The best geographic analyses of the West Coast
have been prepared by Warren Strain: The West
Coast of India, Journal of Geography^ XXXI (1932),
1-20; and Ethel Simkins: The Coast Plains of
South India, Economic Geography^ IX (1933), 19-50,
136-159.

Black Soil Region

Ethel Simkins has written a detailed study in
“The Agricultural Geography of the Deccan Plateau
of India,” London: Philip (1926). Two other useful
articles are A. V. Williamson: Indigenous Irrigation
Works in Peninsular India, Geographical Review^ XXI
(1931), 613--626; and K. I. G. Sundaram: A Deccan
Village in India, Journal of Geography^ XXX (1931),
49-57.

Southern Peninsula

In addition to the articles by Ethel Simkins on
“The Agricultural Geography of the Deccan Plateau
of India,” The Coast Plains of South India, and
A. V. Williamson: Indigenous Irrigation Works in
Peninsular India, previously listed, there are two
studies by Sumner Cushing: The Geography of
Godavari — a District in India, Bulletin Geographical

Society of Philadelphia, IX (1911), 169-187; and
The East Coast of India, Btdletin American Geo-
graphical Society, XLV (1913), 81-92. The eastern
margin of the peninsula is well described by J. Riley
Staats: India East Coast, Journal of Geography^
XXI (1982), 93-111.

Ceylon

The standard reference on Ceylon is Elsie K.
Cook: “A Geography of Ceylon,” London: Macmillan
(1981), Detailed info’*mation is presented by John
R. Baker who describes The Sinharaja Rain-Forest,
Ceylon, Geographical Journal^ LXXXIX (1937),
539-549.

CHAPTER 33. INDIA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD
Foreign Trade

Current statistics will be found in the Indian
Year Book and Who* s Who, and the Foreign Commerce
Yearbook of the United States Department of
Commerce. General economic information is in
Vera Anstey’s volumes on “The Economic Develop-
ment of India” and on “The Trade of the Indian
Ocean.”

Political Relations

India’s internal and external problems are well
summarized by C. B. Fawcett: “A Political Geog-
raphy of the British Empire.”

Cultural Contributions

An able evaluation may be found in Will Durant:
“The Story of Civilization,” New York: Simon &
Schuster (1935). See also H. G. Rawlinson: “India,
a Short Cultural History,” New York: Appleton-
Century (1938).

SOUTHEASTERN ASIA

CHAPTER 34. THE SOUTHEASTERN REALM

Summarized material may be found in the general
volumes on Asia such as Bergbmark: “Economic
Geography of Asia”; Stamp: “Asia”; Lyde: “The
Continent of Asia”; and Sion: “Asie des moussons.”
The Institute of Pacific Relations has sponsored a
number of volumes dealing with this part of Asia,
such as Kate Mitchell: “Industrialization of the
Western Pacific”; Pelzer, Greene and Phillips:
“Economic Survey of the Pacific Area” in two
volumes; Karl G. Pelzer: “Agriculture and Settle-
ment in Southeastern Asia”; and Jack Shepherd:
“Industry in Southeast Asia.” Current data are

Suggested Readings

published in the fortnightly Far Eastern Survey.
The Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science for March^ 1943, CCXXVI, is
devoted to Southeastern Asia and the Philippines;
as is the November, 1942,. issue, II, of The Far
Eastern Quarterly, Four installments of Samuel
Van Valkenburg’s series on the Agricultural
Regions of Asia relate to this area, principally Part
III, Farther India, Economic Geography y IX (1933),
1--18, which deals with the continental portion. An
excellent evaluation of mineral resources may be
found in H. Foster Bain: “Ores and Industry in
the Far East.” The importance of rice is described by
V. D. Wickizer and M. K. Bennett: “The Rice
Economy of Monsoon Asia,” Stanford University:
Food Research Institute (1941). John L. Christian
has contributed two articles; Recent Literature
Relating to Southeast Asia, Far Eastern Quarterlyy
I (1942), 37&-*386; and Anglo-French Rivalry in
Southeast Asia, Geographical Review y XXXI (1941),
272-282. The stimulating impressions of a New
York Times correspondent may be found in Robert
A. Smith: “Our Future in Asia,” New York: Viking
(1940).

CHAPTER 35. BURMA

The best material on Burma is in the articles by
L. Dudley Stamp who served in the country for
several years as petroleum geologist. See especially
his articles: Burma, An Undeveloped Monsoon
Country, Geographwal Review y XX (1930), 86-109;
The Irrawaddy River, Geographical Joumaly XCV
(1940), 32^356; Notes on the Vegetation of Burma,
Geographical Journaly LXIV (1924), 231-237; and
the detailed analysis prepared jointly with Lesley
Lord: The Ecology of Part of the Riverine Tract
of Burma, Journal of Ecologyy II (1923), 129-159.
Another useful summary is The Geography of Burma,
by Marion Murphy, Journal of Geography y XXX
(1931), 17-33. Three useful general volumes are J. S.
Furnivall: “Introduction to the Political Economy
of Burma,” rev. by J. R. Andrus, Rangoon: Burma
Book Club (1938); W. J. Grant: “The New
Burma,” New York: Macmillan (1941); and JohnL.
Christian: “Modern Burma,” Berkeley: University
of California Press (1942). The transition from agri-
culture to industry is covered in O. H. Spate: Begin-
nings of Industrialization in Burma, Economic
Geographyy XVII (1941), 75-92. Production figures
are given in Lewis Fermor: Burma’s Mineral
Resources and the War, Asiatic Reviewy January,
1941. Burma’s largest city is the subject of an article
by O. H. K. Spate and L. W. Trubblood: Rangoon:
A Study in Urban Geography, Geographical Reviewy
XXXIl (1942), 56-73.

569

CHAPTER 36. THAILAND

The most detailed geographical study is that of
Wilhelm Credner: “Siam, das Land der Tai,”
Stuttgart: Engelhorns (1935). Conditions under the
absolute monarchy are best described by Walter A.
Graham: “Siam,” London: Moring, 3d ed. (1924).
Later developments are covered in Virginia
Thompson; “Thailand, the New Siam,” New York:
Macmillan (1941); an older survey may be found in
a chapter in “The Far East” by Archibald Little; a
brief study of people and history is provided in a
bulletin by the Smithsonian Institution entitled
Siam — ^Land of Free Men, by H. G. Deignan (1943).
Robert L. Pendleton has contributed numerous
excellent articles from the standpoint of a soils
scientist of wide experience in the Asiatic tropics,
particularly in Laterite and Its Structural Uses in
Thailand and Cambodia, Geographical RevieWy XXXI
(1941), 177-202; Land Use in Northeastern Thailand,
Geographical RevieWy XXXIII (1943), 15-41; Some
Interrelations between Agriculture and Forestry,
Particularly in Thailand, Journal Thailand Research
Society, XII (1939), 33-52; and Soils of Thailand,
Journal Thailand Research Society, XII (1940),
235-260. The results of field studies of regional land
use are in Carle C. Zimmerman: “Siam, Rural
Economic Survey,” Bangkok: Bangkok Times
Press (1931), summarized in Some Phases of Land
Utilization in Siam, Geographical RevieWy XXVII
(1937), 378-393; and J. M. Andrews: “Siam, Second
Rural Economic Survey,” Bangkok: Bangkok Times
Press (1935). Farm conditions are covered by W.
Ladejinsky: Thailand’s Agricultural Economy, For-
eign Agricvlturey VI (1942), 165-184. The account of
a visit in 1938 may be found in L. Dudley Stamp:
Siam before the War, Geographical Journaly XCIX
(1942), 209-224. The political aspects of a canal
across the Malay Peninsula are considered by
William J. Ron an: The Kra Canal: A Suez for
Japan? Pamjic AffairSy IX (1936), 406-415.

CHAPTER 37. INDO-CHINA

The two best references in French are P. Gourou:
“L’Indochine frangaise,” Hanoi (1929); and Jules
Sion: “Asie des moussons,” part 4, L’Indochine.
A series of regional monographs bears the title
“Indochine frangaise,” Hanoi: Imprimerie d’extr^me
Orient (1931); “L’ Atlas de I’lndo-chine,” Hanoi
(1936?) contains maps of land use and resources.
English-speaking geographers have given surprisingly
little attention to the country. The best treatment of
culture, economy, and administration is Virginia
Thompson: “French Indo-China,” New York:
Macmillan (1937). A general description is contained

670 Suggested Readings

in Akchibald Littus: “The Par East.” The most
important city of the country is described by Shannon
McCune: Salgon» French Indo-China, Journal of
Geography f XXXVI (1937), *4-33. Pictures of the
ruins of Angkor may be found in the National Geo-
graphic Magamncy XXIIl (191£), *09-*72; and LIV
(19*8), 803-33*.

CHAPTER 38. MALAYA

The geolo^cal foundations of Malaya are presented
by J. B. Scrivunor: The Physical Geography of the
Southern Part of the Malay Peninsula, Geographical
Review^ XI (1921), 351-371, who has also written
“Geology of Malaya,” London: Macmillan (1931);
while the equally basic problems of people are
described by C. A. Vueland: The Population of the
Malay Peninsula, Geographical Review^ XXIV (1934),
61-78. Agricultural production is considered in two
articles by W. I. Ladejinsky: Agriculture in British
Malaya, Foreign Agriculture^ V (1941), 103-1*5;
and Agricultural Policies of British Malaya, Foreign
Agriculture^ V (1941), 159-164; and also in an article
by George F. Deasy: The Oil Palm in Malaya,
Journal of Geography ^ XLI (194*), 21-3*. The political
background is the subject of Rupert Emerson:
“Malaysia,” New York: Macmillan (1937); and
L. A. Mills: “British Rule in Eastern Asia,” Min-
neapolis: University of Minnesota Press (1942).
There are three excellent articles by E. H. G. Dobby:
Settlement and Land Utilization, Malacca, Geographi-
cal Journal^ XCIV (1939), 466-478; Singapore: Town
and Country, Geographical Review^ XXX (1940),
84-109; and Settlement Patterns in Malaya, Geo-
graphical ReeieWt XXXII (1942), *11-23*.

Three articles on Sarawak are T. H. Harrisson:
The Oxford University Expedition to Sarawak, 1932,
Geographical Journal^ LXXXII (1933), 385-410;
D. L. Leach: The Survey of Sarawak, Geographical
Journal^ C (1942), 98-106; and J. C. Swayne:
Sarawak, Scottish Geographical Magazine, LVIII
(1942), 59-63.

CHAPTER 39. NETHERLANDS INDIES

General information on government and economic
problems may be found in Amry Vandenbosch:
“The Dutch East Indies,” Berkeley: University of
California Press, 3d ed. (1942); Jan O. MI Broek:
“Economic Development of the Netherlands Indies,”
New York: Institute of Pacific Relations (1942);
and in the “Handbook of the Netherlands East-
Indies,” Buitenzorg, Java: Department of Agricul-
ture, Industry, and Commerce (1930). Two sources
on geology are H. Aibert Brouwer: “Geology of the
Netherlands East Indies,” New York: Macmillan

(1925); and J. H. F. Umborovb: Geological History
of the East Indies, Bulletin American Association of
Petroleum Geologists, XXII (1938), 1-70. Excellent
maps are available in the “Atlas van Tropisch
Nederland,” Amsterdam (1938). Excellent geo-
graphical surveys are provided in three articles by
Samuel Van Valkenburg: Agricultural Regions of
Asia, Part VIll, Malaysia, Economic Geography, XI
(1935), 227-246, 325-337; Part IX, Java, XII (1936),
27-44; and Java: The Economic Geography of a
Tropical Island, Geographical Review, XV (1925),
563-583. His artic?3 entitled Java: A Study of
Population, Papers Midhigan Academy of Science,
Arts, and Letters, XIV (1930), 399-415, deals with
one of the island's most pressing problems. An excel-
lent summary of agricultural economics may be found
in the article entitled Agriculture of the Netherlands
Indies, Foreign Agriculture, IV (1940), 511-574, by
W. Ladejinsky. Conditions shortly before the arrival
of the Japanese are described in a lecture by G. H. C.
Hart: Recent Development in the Netherlands-
Indies, Geographical Journal, XCIX (1942), 81-102.

Publications issued at the time of the Fourth
Pacific Science Congress in 1929 contain much mate-
rial of value, notably in the volume edited by L. M. R.
Ruttbn: “Science in the Netherlands East Indies,”
Amsterdam (1929); in the 35 Excursion Guides; in the.
four volumes of Proceedings; and in “Krakatau” the
subject of a volume by Ch. E. Stehn, W. M. Docters
Van Lbeuwen, and K. W. Dammerman, Batavia
(1929).

The outer islands are the subject of articles by
Jan O. M. Broek: The Economic Development of
the Outer Provinces of the Netherlands Indies,
Geographical Review, XXX (1940), 187-200; George
F. Deasy: Localization of Sumatra's Oil Palm
Industry, Economic Geography, XVIII (1942), 153-
158; and Hendrik de Leew: Sumatra, Economic and
Geographic, Bulletin Geographical Society of Philadel-
phia, XXVIII (1930), 16-35. Excellent photographs
are available in Maynard Owen Williams: Bali and
Points East, National Geographic Magazine, LXXV
(1939), 313-352. The geology and climate as they
have interacted to develop the soils and so influence
the land-use pattern are best described by E. C. Jul.
Mohr: “Soils of Equatorial Regions, with Particular
Reference to the Netherlands East Indies,” trans.
by Robert L. Pendleton, Ann Arbor: Edwards
Bros. (1943).

CHAPTER 40. THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

General surveys of Philippine geography may be
found in the volume edited by William H. Haas:
“The American Empire,” Chicago: University of
Chicago Press (1940); and in articles by Warren D.

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